With the upcoming celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai and other parts of the country, it is getting excited and thrilled. However, there is still a haunt of loan app scam fooling people into taking loans from illegal apps for the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Recently, a news story was highlighted like any other. A devotee and a housewife from Malad, Mumbai, filled out a form on an application but didn’t submit it, yet money was deposited in her account.
How can we deal with this now? We have been seeing a rise in such incidents all after the pandemic hit the shore and it was difficult for the people to deal with their finances. In spite of the officials’ ongoing attempts to crack down on the web loan app scam, fraudsters are still hiding. They continue to provide illegal loans to needy people and other gullible people.
As usual, a resident from Malad, who wanted to make this festival a little more extravagant, decided to welcome Lord Ganesh at her home. She thought of buying the idol on loan but ended up becoming the victim of this racket.
She needed some money to embark on the celebration for Ganeshotsav and saw an advertisement on social media about the loan app. As a result of the advertisement’s visibility and popularity among audiences, she downloaded the app from Google Play store, and as the process went along, she was asked for permission to access her contact list, photo gallery, and SMS.
She then filled out an application for a loan but did not apply for it. In spite of this, she received a minimal amount in her account, which she promptly returned. What happened next was something that took her mental peace away. The victim began receiving threats from the loan application that she must make the payment with extra charges or else she will be trapped.
They even dumped her with the severe threat of morphing her photos into pornographic images if the victim doesn’t make the payment. But the victim refused to pay the extortionist. A few days after the incident, she received a disturbing picture of her naked photos, which was illegally sent to her relatives and friends.
In this case, she immediately lodged a police complaint, and an FIR was lodged against the accused and the illegal loan application scam. Because of these illegal loan apps extorting money, the Reserve Bank of India has issued a set of important and significant guidelines aimed at educating the people on how to comply with such illegal loan apps. With these our country’s police are still busting accuses who are conducting illegal trafficking of extortion of illegal lending.
As we all see cases like these every day, it is the duty of the people to be aware of such activities that give easy access to take loans from. Neither banks nor NBFCs offer easy loans directly to the people who need them. The RBI actually states that NBFCs and banks need to be registered with the RBI. They explicitly stated that without any official verification, no loan or money is given to the borrower. Before lending money, a thorough verification is conducted.
Loan eligibility was largely based on credit history & credit repayment, age, work experience and income. As the world progresses with new technologies, social media have also evolved to play an important role in society. These illegal loan apps have entered the realm of social media with their advertisement of the products and services of lending money instantly. They have managed to capture the behaviour of their online customers as well. Online lenders of the new age are now scrutinising social media tracks of applicants. Without letting you know online lenders store the data used against you. It is even possible for them to know about your friends and family without you knowing. Essentially, they use these contacts to threaten you into repaying your debts, which is illegal to contact another person for debt collection. We are no longer entitled to a world where privacy play a role to live a life offline.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of illegal loan apps, there are solutions for you. SingleDebt can help cease harassment from these agents and handle the legal side for you. We urge you not to resolve this alone as this can lead to further harassment. Contact SingleDebt on +91 961 910 3594 or fill out the form either on the home page or contact page.
SingleDebt specializes in effective debt management solutions, helping individuals and businesses reduce their debt and regain financial stability.
