Loan app harassment cases on the rise in Mumbai, 4 FIRs registered in 4 days

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The Mumbai Police have registered at least four FIRs over the past four days in connection with loan app scams. Digital lenders are reportedly using unethical methods to recover loan amounts from borrowers by blackmailing them. So far, 27 FIRs have been registered in related cases, the Times of India reported.

As many as 100 such loan apps are on the radar of the Mumbai Police at the moment and a list containing their names has been sent to Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) for blocking, Zee Business reported.

Raju Khadav, a 22-year-old student hailing from Rajasthan, has already been arrested in connection with a loan amount extortion case in which a Malad resident committed suicide after being harassed by agents. The accused is currently being interrogated to find out under whose aegis he was operating.

A complaint registered with Ghatkopar Police on May 30 stated that a loan app called Ariacko Loan had credited Rs 3,850 to a businessman’s account without his consent. He was forced to pay up Rs 77,000 to the loan recovery agents after they began threatening him with circulating morphed images to disgrace him.

A cloth trader and a Mumbai-based journalist were also harassed in a similar manner, with loan recovery agents circulating their morphed pictures showing them in compromising positions with women. Both persons have registered police complaints.

Another person was wrongfully harassed and extorted of Rs 16,000 despite never even taking a loan; he had only downloaded an online loan app called Buddy Cash.

Only last week the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had cancelled the registration licences of five NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies) that used to run several such loan apps. However, complaints against agents who are blackmailing and harassing users of loan apps continue to rise.