A 42-year-old Rawalpindi resident committed suicide after being harassed and threatened by representatives of digital lending apps.
According to the deceased’s wife, after losing his job, her husband took out a loan of around Rs. 13,000 to pay his house rent and children’s school fees, but within weeks he began receiving threats.
According to the woman, her husband was asked to return a much larger sum and was threatened on a regular basis. The deceased obtained a loan from another digital loan app to repay his first loan, but the interest continued to mount.
If the deceased did not repay the loan and the high interest, his mobile phone data (including contact information, personal pictures, and videos) was allegedly leaked.
After being subjected to constant threats and blackmail by these digital lending apps, the man committed suicide.
The Race Course police have opened an investigation and filed a case after a man committed suicide after being harassed by loan sharks.
Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) advised borrowers to carefully read all loan terms and conditions before signing up for a loan through digital apps, including interest/markup rate, service fees, and late payment charges/penalties.
In May, the Pakistan Competition Commission (CCP) warned and cautioned the general public about the rising trend of mobile app-based micro-credit and nano-loan facilities.
Complaints about digital loan app harassment are nothing new; social media platforms are littered with stories about threats and blackmailing tactics used by many digital lending apps to recover loans. This is, however, possibly the first case in Pakistan in which a victim of one of these loan apps committed suicide as a result of the alleged harassment and blackmailing tactics used by these loan sharks.
