Mumbai: SoBo resident approaches cops after facing harassment from loan sharks

A 34-year-old Nepeansea Road resident became the recent victim of loan shark scamsters. Despite having paid the loan money, the fraudsters had misused the WhatsApp display photograph of the victim and sent it to the relatives of the victim and defamed him, the victim told the police in his complaint.

According to the police, the complainant is into catering business. On May 03, the victim had received a text message on his phone asking to click the link mentioned in the message, if he had any loan requirement. Since the victim was in need of some money, he opened the link and shared his identity, bank account details and photograph in the said link. The victim was then directed to a loan application.

Next day, the victim received Rs 8800 in his bank account in four different transactions of Rs 2200 each. The said loan was granted for a period of eight days. On May 10, the victim received a WhatsApp call from an unknown number and the caller asked the victim to make his loan payment, police said.

The caller had shared a payment link to the victim, after which the victim had paid Rs 10720 through the said link. Then onwards, the victim started receiving calls from unknown numbers, threatening the victim to make the loan payment. The accused also misused the WhatsApp display photograph of the victim along with his son, cropped it and edited it with objectionable comments and sent it to his relatives, police said.

Harassed with this, the victim approached the police and got a criminal complaint lodged in the matter on Wednesday and also provided seven mobile numbers to the police, from which the victim had been receiving threatening calls. The police have registered a case under sections of cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, punishment for identity theft and punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource.