Inside di loan app scam wey dey blackmail pipo with dia nudes

One blackmail scam dey use instant loan apps to trap and disgrace pipo across India and oda kontries for Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At least 60 Indians don kill demsefs afta dem suffer abuse and threats. One​ BBC undercover investigation don expose those wey dey profit from dis deadly scam for India and China.

Astha Sinhaa wake up to her Aunty voice wey dey panic for phone. "No allow your mama comot for house."

Half-asleep, fear catch di 17-year-old to find her mama, Bhoomi Sinhaa for di next room, dey cry seriously.

Dis na her funny and fearless mother, respected Mumbai-based property lawyer, widow wey dey raise her daughter alone but now dey reduced to a crying mess.

"She bin dey broken," Astha tok. Na so Bhoomi start to tell her wia all di important documents and contacts dey, and she dey desperate to get out of di door.

Astha know say she need to stop her. "No let her out of your sight," her aunt bin don tell her. "Becos she go end her life.

Astha know say her mother don dey get some weird calls and say she owe somebodi money, but she no know say Bhoomi don dey suffer months of harassment and psychological torture.

She don fall victim to one global scam wey get leg for at least 14 kontries wey dey use shame and blackmail to make profit and destroy lives in di process.

Di business model dey brutal but simple.

E get many apps wey dey promise hassle-free loans in minutes. Not all of dem dey predatory. But many - once you download dem - go harvest your contacts, fotos and ID cards, and use dat information later to extort you.

Wen customers no repay on time - and sometimes even wen dem pay, - dem go still share dis information with call centre wia young agents of di gig economy, wey dey armed with laptops and phones dey trained to harass and humiliate pipo into repayment.

At di end of 2021, Bhoomi don borrow about 47,000 rupees ($565; £463) from several loan apps while she dey wait for some work expenses to come through. Di money arrive almost immediately but dem deduct big part of am in charges. Seven days later, wen she dey due to repay, dem still never pay her expenses, so she borrow from anoda app and den anoda. Di debt and interest grow until she owe about two million rupees ($24,000; £19,655).

Soon, di recovery agents start to call her. Dem quickly turn nasty, come begin slam Bhoomi with insults and abuse. Even wen she don pay, dem still claim say she dey lie. Dem call up to 200 times a day. Dem say dem know wia she dey live and send her pictures of dead bodi as a warning.

As di abuse come dey increase, dem threaten to message all di 486 contacts for her phone to tell dem say she be thief and she be ashawo. Wen dem threaten to also tarnish her daughter reputation na im Bhoomi no fit sleep again.

She borrow from friends, family and more and more apps - 69 in total. For night, she go dey pray make morning no come. But without fail at 07:00am sharp, her phone go start to ping and buzz nonstop.

Eventually, Bhoomi manage to pay back all of di money, but one app in particular - Asan Loan - no gree stop to call her, sotay she no fit concentrate for work and begin get panic attacks.

One day, her colleague call her over to im desk and show her sometin for im phone - a naked, pornographic picture of her.

Dem photoshop di fot wia dem put Bhoomi head for some oda pesin body, but e make her shame. She collapse for her colleague desk. Na Asan Loan wey don send di nude photo to evri contact for her phone book. Dat wan come make Bhoomi tink of killing herself.

We don see evidence of scams like dis wey various companies all over di world dey run. But for India alone, di BBC don find at least 60 pipo wey don kill demsefs after loan apps harass dem.

Most of dem dey dia 20s and 30s: one fireman, award-winning musician, young mother and dad wey leave behind dia three and five-year-old daughters, grandpapa and grandson wey get involved in loan apps togeda. Four na just teenagers.

Most victims dey too ashamed to speak about di scam, and di perpetrators dey for di most part, anonymous and invisible. Afta we look for insider for months, BBC manage to track down one young man wey don work as a debt recovery agent for call centres wey dey work for multiple loan apps.

Rohan - no be im real name - tell us say di abuse im don witness trouble am. Many customers cry, some threaten to kill demsefs, im tok. "E dey worry me all night." Im agree to help di BBC expose di scam.

Im apply for job in two different call centres - Majesty Legal Services and Callflex Corporation - and spend weeks dey film undercover.

Im videos capture wia young agents dey harass clients. "Behave or I go smash you," na so one woman swear. She accuse di customer of incest and wen im hang up, she come begin laugh. Anoda one suggest make di client prostitute im mother to repay di loan.

Rohan record over 100 incidents of harassment and abuse, to capture dis systematic extortion on camera for di first time.

Di worst abuse im witness take place for Callflex Corporation, just outside Delhi. Here, agents regularly dey use terrible language to humiliate and threaten customers. Dis no be rogue or fake agents wey dey go off-script - dem dey supervise and direct by managers for di call centre, including one wey dem call Vishal Chaurasia.

Rohan gain Chaurasia trust, and togeda with one journalist wey pose as an investor, arrange one meeting wia dem ask am to explain exactly how di scam dey work.

E explain say wen a customer take a loan, dem don give di app access to di contacts on dia phone. Callflex Corporation dey hired to recover di money - and if di customer miss a payment di company go begin hassle dem, and den dia contacts. Im staff fit say anything, Chaurasia tok, as long as dem get a repayment.

"Di customer go pay becos of di shame," e tok. "You go find at least one pesin for im contact list wey fit destroy im life."

We approach Chaurasia directly but im no wan to comment. Callflex Corporation no respond to our efforts to contact dem.

One of di many lives wey dem destroy na Kirni Mounika.

Di 24-year-old civil servant na di brains of her family, di only student for her school to get a goment job, caring sister to her three brothers. Her father, a successful farmer, dey ready to support her to do her masters for Australia.

Di Monday wey she take her own life, three years ago, she climb her scooter to go work as usual.

"She bin dey all smiles," her father, Kirni Bhoopani, tok.

Na only wen police review Mounika phone and bank statements na im dem find out say she bin don borrow from 55 different loan apps. E start with a loan of 10,000 rupees ($120; £100) and spread to more dan 30 times dat wan. By di time she decide to kill herself, she bin don pay back more dan 300,000 rupees ($3,600; £2,960).

Police say di apps harass her with calls and vulgar messages - and dem don start to message her contacts.

Mounika room now dey like a makeshift shrine. Dem hang her goment ID card by di door, di bag her mama pack for wedding still dey dia.

Di thing wey pain her father di most na say she no tell am wetin bin dey go on. "We for easily arrange di money," e tok as e wipe tears from im eyes.

E dey vex with di pipo wey do dis tin.

As im dey take im daughter body home from di hospital, her phone ring and im ansa to di pesin wey dey voke. "Dem tell us she say she need to pay," e tok. "We tell dem say she don die."

E wonder who dis monsters fit be.

Hari - no be im real name - work for one call centre wey dey do recovery for one of di apps Mounika borrow from. Di pay dey good but by di time Mounika die, im already don dey feel bad about wetin im be part of.

Although e claim say e no dey make abusive calls imself - e say im bin dey di team wey bin make di initial polite calls - e tell us say di managers instruct staff to abuse and threaten pipo.

Di agents go send messages to di victim contacts, and paint di victim as a fraud and a thief.

"Evribodi get a reputation to maintain in front of dia family. No one go wan spoil dat reputation sake of di sum of 5,000 rupees," e tok.

Once dem make payment di system go ping "Success!" and dem go move on to di next client.

Wen clients start to threaten say dem go take dia own lives, nobody take am seriously - den di suicides begin happen. Di staff call dia boss, Parshuram Takve, to ask if dem fit stop.

Di following day Takve appear for office. Im bin dey angry. "E say, 'Do wetin we tell you and make recoveries,'" na so Hari tok. So dem continue.

A few months later, Mounika die.

Takve bin dey ruthless. But im no dey run dis operation alone. Sometimes, Hari say di software interface go switch to Chinese without warning.

Takve dey married to a Chinese woman called Liang Tian Tian. Togeda, dem set up di loan recovery business, Jiyaliang, for Pune, wia Hari dey work.

For December 2020, police arrest Takve and Liang as dem dey investigate a case of harassment but release dem on bail a few months later.

In April 2022, police charge dem with extortion, intimidation and say dme get hand for suicide. By di end of di year, dem come dey on di run.

We no fit track down Takve. But wen we investigate di apps Jiyaliang dey work for, e lead us to a Chinese businessman called Li Xiang.

Im no get any online presence, but we find a phone number wey dey linked to one of im employees and posing as investors, set up a meeting with Li.

With im face uncomfortably close to di camera, im brag about im businesses for India.

"We still dey operate dia now, but we no let di Indians know say we be Chinese company," e tok.

Back in 2021, two of Li companies bin dey raided by Indian police wey dey investigate harassment by loan apps. Dem freeze dia bank accounts.

"You need to understand say becos we aim to recover our investment quickly, we no dey pay local taxes, and di interest rates we dey offer dey violate local laws," e tok.

Li tell us say im company get dia own loan apps for India, Mexico and Colombia. E claim to be an industry leader in risk control and debt collection services in South East Asia, and now, dem dey expand across Latin America and Africa - with more dan 3,000 staff in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India wey dey ready to provide "post-loan services".

E come explain wetin im company dey do to recover loans.

"If you no repay, we fit add you on WhatsApp, and on di third day, we go call and message you on WhatsApp at di same time, and call your contacts. Dhen, on di fourth day, if your contacts no pay, we get specific detailed procedures.

"We go access im call records and capture a lot of im information. Basically, e dey like say im dey naked in front of us."

Bhoomi Sinha fit handle di harassment, di threats, di abuse and di exhaustion - but not di shame of being linked to dat pornographic image.

"Dat message actually strip me naked in front of di entire world," she tok. "I lose my self-respect, my morality, my dignity, everytin in a second."

Dem share am with lawyers, architects, goment officials, elderly relatives and friends of her parents - pipo wey no go ever look at her in di same way again.

"E don tarnish di core of me, like if you join a broken glass, e go still get cracks on am," she tok.

She don dey ostracised by neighbours for di community wia she don live for 40 years.

"As of today, I no get friends. Na just me I guess," she tok with a sad laugh.

Some of her family pipo still no dey speak to her. And she constantly dey wonder weda di men she dey work with dey picture her naked.

Dat morning wey her daughter Astha find her, she bin dey at her lowest point. But na also dat moment na im she decide to fight back. "I no want to die like dis," she decide.

She bin file police report but she never hear anytin since. All she fit do na to change her number and troway her sim card - and wen Astha begin receive calls, her daughter also destroy her phone too. She tell friends, family and colleagues to ignore di calls and messages and eventually, all of dem stop.

Bhoomi find support in her sisters, her boss and an online community of odas wey don suffer abuse by loan apps. But mostly, she find strength in her daughter.

"E be like I bin don do something for God to bless me with a daughter like dis," she tok. "If she bin no stand by me den I for don be one of di many pipo wey don kill demsefs becos of loan apps."

We put di allegations for dis report to Asan Loan - and also, through contacts, to Liang Tian Tian and Parshuram Takve, wey dey in hiding. Neither di company nor di couple don respond.

Wen asked for comment, Li Xiang tell di BBC say im and im companies dey comply with all local laws and regulations, and dem no run predatory loan apps, dem don stop any collaboration with Jiyaliang, di loan recovery company wey Liang Tian Tian and Parshuram Takve dey run, and say dem no dey collect or use customers contact information.

E say im loan recovery call centres dey work by di strict standards and e also deny say e dey profit from di suffering of ordinary Indians.

Majesty Legal Services deny using customers contacts to recover loans. Dem tell us say dia agents dey instructed to avoid abusive or threatening calls and any violation of di company policies dey result in dismissal of di staff.

Additional reporting by Ronny Sen, Shwetika Prashar, Syed Hasan, Ankur Jain and di BBC Eye team. Thanks also to di undercover reporters wey we no fit name sake of dia safety.