Mumbai: ‘Loan recovery agents’ target two women

Representational image. Pic/iStock

The Oshiwara police are investigating two cases where the women have been allegedly targeted by ‘loan recovery agents' who doctored their photos into obscene images and videos and sent it to their contacts. In both these cases, the women denied having borrowed money from apps.

According to police sources, a 25-year-old woman from Kurar, who works in a cafe, received abusive calls on Sunday and started receiving obscene morphed images on her phone.

The victim claims that the caller, claiming to be a recovery agent of the Candy App, a loan app, demanded repayment of a loan amount. When she denied taking a loan, the accused began abusing her and threatened to make her morphed photos viral. They later sent the photos to her contacts.

Those who received this photo started calling the victim, who then promptly filed a case against the abusive caller. The police have registered the case under various sections of the IPC and IT Act, as stated by an officer.

A 27-year-old woman, a resident of Vasai working in a private company, was traveling from Vasai to Jogeshwari by train on Monday when she got a call from an unknown number informing her of an online loan that needed to be repaid. Despite her denial of having taken any such loan, the person continued to harass her and started using abusive language.

Subsequently, the caller escalated the harassment by sending morphed lewd videos and photos, threatening to share them with her acquaintances if the loan amount was not paid. The caller uploaded obscene content on Facebook and sent the obscene photo to one of the victim's friends. Both victims promptly reported the matter to the Oshiwara police station, resulting in the registration of cases under various sections of the IPC.