FIR lodged after loan app circulates morphed photos of debtor

Mumbai police book operators of Everloan app for circulating morphed nude photos of a borrower to recover a loan, cautioning against fraudulent loan apps.

Mumbai: The LT Marg police have booked unidentified operators of an instant loan app for allegedly circulating morphed nude photos of a beautician who had taken a loan of ₹10,000 through the app on April 1. The photos were circulated in a bid to recover the loan from the victim, said police.

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According to the police, on April 1, the 26-year-old complainant came across the app named Everloan, which offered instant loans at a low rate of interest with a payout period of seven days. The complainant availed a loan of ₹10,000 through the app by furnishing her identity documents and clicking a fresh photo, said police. On the last date of the payout period, April 7, she got a call asking her about the repayment.

“The caller told her that she only had thirty seconds to make the payment. A few seconds later, she and two of her contacts received her morphed pictures. She also received a threat via a text message which said her morphed videos would be shared with her contacts soon,” said a police officer.

Scared of the consequences and desperate to make the payment and resolve the matter, the beautician asked for a QR code and made an online payment as directed. Thereafter, she approached the LT Marg police, who booked the unknown accused under sections 384 (extortion), 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code as well as the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

Deputy commissioner of police Datta Nalawade, who holds additional charge of the cyber police, said such loan apps were notorious for going to any extent to get their money back from debtors. “In some cases, victims have even resorted to suicide,” said Nalawade. “People must remember that if a scheme sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”

While a large number of instant loan apps are reportedly of Chinese origin, Everloan has a registered office in London, as per information available online. The police are in regular touch with Google and Apple to remove such dubious apps from their app stores, but more apps keep mushrooming with new names, said sources.