Bengaluru woman extorted over Rs 1.1L, humiliated after taking emergency loan from app; blackmailed with morphed photos

BENGALURU: A 25-year-old woman landed in deep trouble after taking an emergency loan from an online lending app. Fraudsters allegedly morphed her photos in obscene ways, shared them with her family and friends and threatened to make them viral on social media despite her clearing the loan amount. The accused extorted over Rs 1.1 lakh from her and are still demanding more.

Ishita (name changed), a resident of New Thippasandra, told police she needed around Rs 10,000 for an emergency. Instead of asking someone, she decided to take a loan from an online app. She searched online, found a link for Loan Mitra app, downloaded it and entered her banking and personal details on Jan 27.


The app approved only Rs 4,500 and disbursed Rs 2,700 to her bank account after deducting charges, including interest, and give her a deadline of seven days for repayment. She claimed she repaid Rs 4,500 before the due date. However, the app again disbursed the same amount to her account without her consent and began demanding repayment, Ishita told police.

When she explained that she did not apply for the loan a second time and said she would repay the credited amount, the miscreants began threatening and harassing her through multiple phone calls, she said.

They morphed her photos and threatened to share them with her contacts. Fearing the embarrassment, she started paying amounts demanded by the fraudsters. By Feb 12, she paid over Rs 1.1 lakh through digital payment apps to 16 UPI IDs provided by the accused.

When Ishita ran out of money, she borrowed from family and friends to repay them. After she informed the fraudsters that she no longer had money, they continued calling and sending abusive messages. She switched off her phone in an attempt to avoid them.

The fraudsters then created a WhatsApp group, adding her family members and friends from her contact list, and shared the morphed photos and videos. They also called her contacts and asked them to tell Ishita to repay the loan.

A senior police officer said after the app was downloaded, it sought permission to access her contacts, photos and videos, which she had to approve to obtain the loan. The fraudsters then accessed her contact list and images and trapped her by offering quick loans without documentation.

A case was registered against the fraudsters under Information Technology Act and BNS Section 318 (cheating). The woman provided 13 mobile numbers from which she received harassment calls.