Two loan recovery agents have been charged with threatening, abusing, altering, and morphing a 28-year-old woman’s photo, and sending it to her relatives and friends. The case comes close on the heels of another in Mumbai, when a resident ended his life after “recovery agents” of an instant loan app allegedly sent morphed nude photographs of him to his colleagues, relatives, and friends while they were collecting information about his loan.
In the most recent case, the woman had applied for two loans of Rs 3,500 and Rs 2,200 each. She was sanctioned loans of Rs 2,200 from each apps, said a report by the Times of India. She was to repay them in seven days but started getting calls within four days. On Friday, the woman filed a FIR with the Vikhroli police station, detailing a list of 13 cellphone numbers from which she received threatening and abusive messages, as well as those from which she received morphed photos.
The cases signal to a terrifying (s)extortion racket, which is slowly become more rampant. The modus operandi involves a contact through social media, dating, a loan app or even WhatsApp. A person is targeted through a video call or a morphed image and then he/she becomes bait.
In most cases, the victims are threatened with circulating their nude morphed photos or images over a nude video call and then they are blackmailed and extorted with a huge sum.
A Look at How it Happens
The majority of these schemes follow the same pattern of contacting a target using social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Money or sex talks are used as bait to entice them. People’s photos/videos are then altered or videotaped, and they are blackmailed into paying large quantities of money or having their indecent photographs broadcast across their social network.
The majority of people pay out of fear of social disgrace, but the racket continues.
Scammers are said to be mostly centred in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan, where gangs work in groups and provide technical and tricks support to one another.
In the case where the Mumbai resident ended his life, his face was morphed on a nude body with a caption indicating he had not returned a loan he borrowed, and was disseminated from five different numbers. Later reports indicated how the photos were accompanied by a false claim of the victim ‘wanting to sell his wife’ for money.
Loan Apps New Target
The Coimbatore police’s cyber security unit recently issued a warning to locals about mobile apps that are luring them into loan traps. Even downloading these loan apps, according to the authorities, could lead to trouble.
There are about 300 such loan applications, and the major concern with all of them is that they collect contact information from everyone in the user’s phonebook and upload all of the material from the gallery to the loan app account. If the borrower fails to repay the loan on time, the app company harasses the borrower’s connections, sending them messages requesting payment, as well as rude and defamatory messages and even modified nude photographs of the person. They also utilise social media platforms such as WhatsApp to embarrass borrowers who do not pay back their loans.
Even after the entire debt has been repaid, recovery agencies may continue to take money from the borrower under various pretexts. At least 30 such complaints have been filed with the Coimbatore police, reports said.
A 33-year-old guy from Mumbai was given a modest loan by an app a week ago, and after he failed to return the loan, the app disseminated a modified pornographic movie with the consumer’s photographs to individuals in his phone’s contact list.
According to the authorities, those looking for loan availability are increasingly using applications that access and steal data from phones once they are installed. Cyber specialists agree with police assertions that when a borrower downloads such apps, their data is obtained.
What to Do to Save Yourself?
The first step would be to be careful about the loan applications one is downloading. Only go for apps with good credentials and beware of any apps that your local police or news media has warned about.
Second, even while availing such options, do read the privacy details and terms and conditions about these apps carefully. One can also choose to ensure that the operations are legal – by making sure the firm has a legit operating space. You can also check online online reviews and user ratings of the app.
Third, even if you get caught in an unseemly situation, do not delay in informing the police. Such sextortion rackets function on blackmail and social stigma. Approaching authorities for help at the right would be essential to stopping the crime at the right time.
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