Bengaluru, December 14: A 32-year-old man was forced to pay Rs 14 lakh to a gang of loan app fraudsters who threatened to send his morphed photographs with some nude women to all his contacts. The miscreants also WhatsApped the man's PAN card captioned 'rapist' to his wife. The victim is an executive in a private firm.

According to a report in TOI, a case has been registered by CEN crime police against Handy Loan and Speed Loan application. The victim Sanjay, a resident of a village in Chikkaballapur district, in his complaint said that he was blackmailed and Rs 13,97,676 was extorted from him towards loans he hadn't even borrowed. Online Loan Sharks: Nearly 300 Predatory Loan Apps Circulating on Google Play and Apple App Store, Says Report

The victim said that he was watching a video on a popular online platform when he came across an advertisement for 'easy loan' on June 20. Clicking on the link took him to Handy Loan & Speed Loan application in Play Store. The app asked his permission for accessing his contacts, photos and others from his phone. He permitted the same and was later asked to upload his Aadhaar card, PAN card, photo and bank account details. He uploaded them and applied for a loan of Rs 3,200. In 30 minutes, his bank account was credited with Rs 3,200 in two transactions of Rs 1,600 each. Sanjay cleared the loan by paying Rs 6,000 (including interest) within a week. Hyderabad Shocker: Man Ends Life After Loan App Sharks Share His Nude; His Last Words Read, ‘Appeal to Authorities To Block All Loan Apps’

However, without his approval, the app credited to his account a loan of Rs 9,098. He thought it was a mistake and cleared the loan by paying Rs 12,001 within a week. The loan app granted him nine such loans even without him asking for it.

Though Sanjay cleared all the nine loans credited to his account, the gang members claimed he had borrowed more money and started harassing him to clear them. He informed the fraudsters that he had cleared all the loans and nothing was pending. Following this, the gang sent his PAN card with the text 'rapist' to his wife and threatened that they would send his morphed photos to all his mobile contacts.

Panicked that his dignity in friends' circle and society would be ruined if the miscreants sent morphed photos to his contacts, the victim transferred Rs 13,29,470 from his Canara Bank account and Rs 68,206 from his Federal Bank account to the bank accounts provided by the miscreants. However, the gang demanded more money.

Police have registered a case under section 420 (cheating) of IPC and section 66d (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act, 2008.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 14, 2022 08:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).