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Hyderabad : The dark side of instant loan apps has surfaced yet again in Hyderabad, with a 36-year-old private firm employee alleging that recovery agents extorted more than ₹47 lakh from him and used morphed obscene images of his family to blackmail him into making further payments. In one instance, an app credited ₹6,000 to his account but sought ₹10,000 within five days. He alleged that some apps deducted 10% to 20% of the sanctioned amount upfront and charged daily interest rates ranging from 1% to 2%. The victim claimed that nearly ₹26.6 lakh was credited into his bank accounts through around 80 loan apps. However, between Aug 8 and Oct 9, he repaid ₹47.28 lakh through 253 separate transactions. The complainant told police that recovery agents, calling from numbers linked to India and several other countries, continued to demand an additional ₹30 lakh.
Because of his poor CIBIL score, the complainant, a resident of Yellareddyguda, told police that he had approached a bank for a personal loan of ₹3 lakh but was unable to secure one.
“I also allowed the apps to access my contacts, photographs, messages and camera as they demanded at the time of installation,” he told police. Recovery agents repeatedly coerced him into taking fresh loans from other apps to clear existing dues, creating a cycle of borrowing and repayment that became increasingly difficult to escape, according to the complaint. “I sold personal gold ornaments to arrange money for repayments,” he recalled.
Based on his complaint, Hyderabad cyber crime police have registered a case against operators of multiple instant loan apps and their recovery agents for alleged harassment, extortion and intimidation. Faced with an urgent financial need, he turned to instant loan apps, uploading his Aadhaar, PAN, salary slips and bank statements to obtain quick credit. He alleged that some apps disbursed only a fraction of the sanctioned amount while demanding hefty repayments within days. Even after he repaid the amount and uninstalled the app, recovery agents allegedly continued to press him for more money. “Later, when I refused to pay, the loan recovery agents sent me morphed nude images of me and my family members. They shared them with relatives and threatened to circulate them among my other contacts,” he alleged. Despite the repayments, the harassment allegedly continued. A case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act.
Unable to bear the mounting financial burden and alleged threats, he approached the police on Thursday.
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