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Online loan offer leads to extortion & sextortion for Lucknow woman
Reports suggest that the woman received an enticing loan offer on her mobile phone and, initially intrigued, clicked on the provided link to explore the offer further.
LUCKNOW What started as a seemingly promising loan offer quickly transformed into a harrowing ordeal for a woman residing in Indira Nagar. Not only did she end up paying double the amount of the loan she never sought, but she was also subjected to a vicious campaign of cyberbullying, including sextortion.
Local authorities have swiftly responded to the incident. “The Indira Nagar police registered a case in this connection, and an FIR under IPC sections 384 (extortion) and 420 (cheating) was lodged on October 13,” stated SHO Sunil Kumar Tiwari. According to the FIR, the incident unfolded in September.
Reports suggest that the woman received an enticing loan offer on her mobile phone and, initially intrigued, clicked on the provided link to explore the offer further. However, as she delved deeper, she was startled to discover that, within seven days, she was obligated to repay a staggering ₹6,041 for a loan amount of ₹3,300. Wisely, she declined the offer.
To her surprise, though, her bank account was credited with ₹3,300, even though she had never provided consent. The irony was that she had inadvertently disclosed her bank account details while navigating through the loan application process a day earlier.
Over the following six days, she was bombarded with relentless phone calls demanding payment, leaving her bewildered and cornered. Fearing the consequences, she reluctantly made the payment through a mobile app. However, her shock only deepened when she found ₹5,400 inexplicably deposited into her bank account the next day, along with a demand for an additional ₹9,062 to be repaid within a week.
“I never applied for the loan, and yet the money was mysteriously credited to my bank account. I exhausted every possible avenue to reach the company officials responsible for this unauthorized deposit, but my efforts were in vain. Two days later, I received a call, and I confronted the caller about the unapproved transaction. I demanded an explanation and refused to pay the extra money for the loan,” she recounted.
Her ordeal took a sinister turn at this point as the culprits resorted to bullying tactics. “They infiltrated my mobile phone, gaining access to all my personal data and photos stored in my gallery. They also obtained the mobile numbers of my relatives and began sending them derogatory messages while ridiculing me. What’s worse, they sent me a manipulated photo of myself and threatened to release it unless I reimbursed the money,” she alleged.
