Hyderabad: A 34-year-old woman private employee has lodged a complaint with Cyber Crime police of Hyderabad alleging extortion, criminal intimidation and harassment by operators of two loan applications. The accused extorted over 9 lakh from the victim, and based on her complaint, a case was registered on Friday.The victim from Ram Nagar said that she clicked on a link in a WhatsApp message on Jan 22 and installed ‘jaldi_credit_210.apk’. After entering personal, Aadhaar and bank details to check eligibility, she began receiving messages on Jan 28 for repayment of a 20,000 loan.‘Mortgaged ornaments’The agents of the app told her that they initially credited 9,600 into her bank account and demanded that she pay 20,000 within a week. The victim checked her bank account and realised that though she did not apply for it, a loan of 9,600 was credited into her bank account. As the callers threatened to circulate her morphed nude photos among contacts if she refused loan repayment, she conceded to their demands and paid 20,000 in multiple transactions.The victim told police that the accused also forced her to install a second app ‘cashloan_1.0.2.apk’. Over the next three months, the gang forced her to transfer over 9.05 lakh from her two bank accounts through hundreds of small UPI transactions routed to dozens of beneficiaries. “Out of extreme fear and pressure, I borrowed money from my friends, colleagues and even mortgaged my gold ornaments to make further payments. In total, I paid 9.05 lakh,” the victim said.Cons morph photographAs she finally told the fraudsters that she can’t pay any more, they sent her a morphed nude photograph of a woman with her face and shared similar obscene images with her husband and her father.Based on the complaint of the victim, Hyderabad Cyber Crime police registered a case under Sections 66C, 66D and 67A of the IT Act and Sections 308(2) (Extortion), 318(4) (Cheating), 319(2) (Cheating by personation) and 79 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
