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Loan apps are threatening and harassing people who miss their repayment deadlines. One user claims that his ordeal included morphing his photo and sharing it on WhatsApp groups with family members and friends.
It is important to document incidents of harassment in a systematic way. Taking screenshots of messages and conversations can help you show your proof that an incident took place.
Threats
A number of unregulated digital lending apps are being downloaded by people and used to avail instant cash. The loans come with predatory requests for excessive permissions, levy huge interests and processing charges and resort to harassment of defaulters. The harassment has reportedly led to a number of suicides and murders.
One such case was reported of a 22-year engineering student from Guntur, who killed herself in July due to relentless harassment from loan recovery agents. She had been borrowing from a lender app that reportedly gained access to personal details such as photographs and contacts in her smartphone. She was repeatedly threatened by the app to expose intimate photographs of her and that her family and friends would face consequences for her inability to repay.
The threats and harassment that these loan sharks perpetrate have a serious impact on people’s lives, often leaving them in a state of constant fear. They also threaten to harm borrowers’ families and break their social networks, which can have long-term effects on their mental health and livelihoods.
In such a situation, it’s important to keep calm and avoid losing your temper. Losing your anger gives them an edge valley loan philippines and makes it easier for them to scare you and pressurize you. Instead, report the harassment to a security agency and seek legal advice to protect yourself.
Embarrassment
While it may seem logical for people to use loan apps in dire situations, most of them do not realise that these applications are predatory. Besides lending money at exorbitant rates, these apps get access to all the contacts and photos in a borrower’s phone and other devices. These personal details are used to harass borrowers into paying back the loans. As a part of its 43-minute documentary, the BBC showed how one such app took the life of civil servant Kirni Mounika after she borrowed money from over 55 loan apps. The company used her contact list and sent morphed photographs of her to all her friends, claiming she is a fraud.
Bubai Khan, another victim of such exploitation, claims that his ordeal began even before the repayment deadline. He says the loan application hacked into his contact list and started calling and texting all his close contacts. In a terrifying attempt to pressure him, his tormentors also morphed his photograph and circulated it among his friends and family members.
Police officers say that despite several warnings, such apps continue to mushroom on Google Playstore. It is a scourge that needs to be tackled with vigour, especially as there are people who have no other way of procuring funds. But the problem is complicated as service providers are not taking enough measures to monitor these apps.
Privacy Invasion
The right to privacy is an important civil right that protects a person’s feelings and sensibilities. However, there are limits to this right. The plaintiff does not have to prove any specific pecuniary damage to be awarded damages for invasion of privacy, though they may be required to show that the invasion caused them distress and mental anguish. Traditional privacy suits fall under four categories: disclosure, false light, intrusion, and appropriation.
Disclosure involves the widespread distribution of private information about a person. However, this information cannot be false or highly offensive to a reasonable person. Furthermore, the defendant’s free speech rights will be balanced against the plaintiff’s right to privacy when deciding if the information is actionable.
False light involves a person’s name or likeness being used in advertising without their consent. Generally, this type of claim relates to businesses using celebrity names or pictures in advertisements. However, the law is more forgiving in this category because the use of a person’s name or likeness can be justified if it is for an important public interest.
Intruding on a person’s privacy is one of the most serious forms of loanmoto harassment. The intrusion must be highly offensive and must cause a person distress or humiliation. Moreover, it is not sufficient for someone to simply snoop on a person’s personal information; the intrusion must be in a way that violates their privacy.