Shocking facts emerge as sleuths cast net wide

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has expanded the scope of its investigation into the online lending apps and startling revelations have come to the fore.

Sources privy to the developments said the FIA Cyber Crime Cell has sought assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and other financial institutions to net the predatory lending sharks.

It has been discovered that the accused individuals involved in the case were extorting money from citizens by blackmailing them with personal data, including photos and videos, obtained from their smartphones.

Reports of investigation into the practice were rife but they took a dark turn after a man named Muhammad Masood committed suicide after defaulting on loan taken through an online app. They event prompted scores of affected of victims to come forward.

It was also revealed that even after repaying the loan amount, customers found themselves blackmailed with photographs of their families and children. A local court has granted physical remand of the nine suspects arrested in the Easyloan App case to the FIA.

FIA officials have stated that more victims of loan fraud are now coming forward. Numerous applicants, fed up with threatening calls and blackmail from these loan apps, have reached out to the FIA Cyber Crime Cell in Rawalpindi.

According to FIA sources, additional cases of blackmail by the Easyloan App Company are being reported.

One such incident involved citizen a citizen named Nasir Mehmood, who returned the loan amount on July 3 but was demanded another Rs9,000 by the company representative on July 4.

Complaints filed by citizens Ehtishamul Haq, Khawaja Mohammad Imran, and Nasir Mehmood have revealed that the company representatives accessed other sections of their mobile phones through a secret link. Nasir Mehmood had taken a loan of Rs9,000 from the Easyloan Company, while Khawaja Imran had borrowed Rs3,000.

Meanwhile, the nine suspects arrested in connection with the suicide case of a 42-year-old citizen who borrowed from online loan apps have been handed over to the FIA for a four-day physical remand by the local court in Rawalpindi. The judge regretted the loss of a human life and ordered FIA to uncover the truth.

The arrested individuals include two call centre representatives, three team leaders, two quality team leaders, and two operational managers. The suspects included Ma’aaz Talib, Kashan Bashir, Abdullah Waheed, Muhammad Bilal, Hasnain Sadaqat, Muhammad Ahmar, Iftikhar Ahmed, Iftikhar Raza, and Haziq Abbasi. Additional accomplices and mobile phones are yet to be recovered, and the WhatsApp threats sent to the deceased Muhammad Masood are also being traced.

The accused's lawyer opposed the physical remand and requested acquittal, claiming that the loans were given in accordance with Islamic principles and that they have the right to claim repayment.

The court, however, denied the request for acquittal, citing the loss of a life.

FIA has advised citizens to completely delete such loan apps from their mobile phones and immediately stop granting access to galleries and other data that these apps steal and exploit.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2023.