People have taken their own lives after being abused and blackmailed by loan apps. Bbc Eye Investigations goes undercover to reveal the scam thats plaguing india. And to expose the people making money from misery, fear and shame. This is how the trap is set. You get a message saying youve been approved for an instant loan. All you have to do is download the app, accept the terms and conditions. And the money is yours. What you dont know is youre already in the trap. The app is extracting all your personal information your id cards, your photos and videos. The names and numbers of yourfamily, your colleagues, yourfriends. Thats when the extortion begins. My name is poonam agarwal. I am an investigative reporter. Last year, i began to hear stories about people scammed by loan apps. Most victims are too ashamed to talk, but one wanted to warn of the dangers of the trap. Bhoomi moved from loan app to loan app, borrowing one loan to pay another, often getting 30 or a0 calls a day. Eventually, she paid them off. But one app, asan loan, kept calling. Asan loan had photoshopped bhoomis face onto this porn image and sent it to every contact on her phone. Im getting too. It had been hard to find a victim willing to talk. It was even harder to find a perpetrator. Eventually, though, i got in touch with a young guy, rohan not his real name who had worked recovering money for loan apps. To expose the scam, i needed evidence. So, i asked rohan to wear a secret camera and take us inside a call centre. Rohan is going inside majesty legal. Lock beeps this Delhi Based Company doesnt give out loans. It calls borrowers on behalf of the loan apps to chase payments. Most calls are polite. But if you dont pay on time, things start to get nasty. Rohan had gathered crucial evidence of abuse, but some of his colleagues were getting suspicious. It wasnt safe to send rohan back, but now he told me about another call centre a place in noida where the abuse was said to be even worse. They were recruiting agents, and rohan applied for a job. While rohan was undercover, i was still trying to find out who had harassed bhoomi to the brink of suicide. Investors, but we could find no name or address. The app just said asan loan. Eventually, ifound a name for the Man Running Asan loan. Parshuram takve. Takve had a facebook page. And a chinese wife Named Liang Tian tian. He also had a criminal record. Takve had been running Debt Recovery for multiple loan apps. Complaints had piled up extortion, blackmail, the use of obscene images. In december 2020, he had been arrested and released on bail. The facebook account was locked, and the man had vanished. But in pune, ifound someone who used to work for parshuram ta kve. Takve was running recovery for many loan apps. And then the worst happened customers began taking their own lives. We know of at least three people who killed themselves after being shamed by takves recovery agents. They arent just numbers. They all had a name, a family and a future. In telangana, ifound the parents of one of them. A 24 year old woman called mounika. He sobs quietly she sobs quietly was there no limit to the misery the loan apps would inflict . It made me even more determined to expose the people profiting from the trap. Then, i got a call from rohan. He had been accepted for thejob at The Call Centre in noida. Lock beeps this is the callflex corporation, a call centre that recovers money for loan apps, including one called paysense. Most calls are respectful. But, just like in the first call centre, if you fail to pay, the tone changes. If you still dont pay, the threats begin. Rohan� s new colleagues were brazen about the tactics they used. After three weeks filming secretly inside The Call Centre, rohan met me in a park. So, rohan arranged a meeting with the manager. He went with another undercover Reporter Posing as an investor. They asked Vishal Chaurasia to explain exactly how loan recovery works. Abuse was effective, but even more powerful was shame. The manager had distilled the scam to its essence call centres recover money for loan apps by threatening to destroy peoples lives. Breaking news coming in when it comes to the crackdown on chinese loan apps, thats our top focus on the bulletin. The indian authorities were starting to crack down on the loan apps. In april 2022, Parshuram Takve and his chinese wife were charged with extortion, intimidation and abetment of suicide. By the end of the year, they were on the run. Behind takve, theres a whole web of companies. Parshuram takve was the director of four businesses. His chinese wife, liang tian tian, gave her name to the largest, jiyaliang, which recovered money for predatory loan apps. Some of those loan apps were set up or supported by two chinese owned companies. Behind both of them was a mysterious businessman called li xiang. Li xiang kept himself well hidden. We found nothing online no social media accounts and no photos. But the Money Trail Led to one city hong kong. Here, we found a phone number linked to one of his employees. Posing as investors, we asked if he could set up a meeting with li xiang. Phone rings hello . Ni hao. Hey, hey. Li xiang, ni hao. Hao. Ni hao. Li xiang was quick to tell us about his fintech and loan app businesses in india. Then li xiang made the key admission his companies, controlled from hong kong, harvest indians� contacts and exploit them to recover loans. Their Recovery Plan is precise. Finally, we had a face for li xiang. And evidence that he was profiting from the misery of ordinary people. Parshuram takve used extortion, intimidation and fear in order to recover money. At least some of that money ended up in the accounts of this man. When i started this investigation, i never imagined the misery i would find. At least 60 indians, many of them very young, have killed themselves after being blackmailed and shamed by the loan apps. It was heartbreaking. But despite the suffering, the scam continues. A year after Parshuram Takve went on the run, his app, asan loan, is still trading, still abusing, still destroying lives. In mumbai, though, bhoomi was starting to rebuild hers. Hello there. Its been a fine start to the week thanks to a ridge of high pressure. Weve had some sunshine, chilly nights, mind you, with some frost and fairly cool days. Tuesday, the last of this settled, chilly weather, because by wednesday onwards, we start to see low pressure taking over, bringing gales, heavy rain, but also milder air too. Now, this area of low pressure has been named Storm Babette by the met office. Thats going to continue to push northwards, affects our shores wednesday, thursday, merges with a larger area of low pressure, and that area of low pressure itself will affect us for the end of the week and into the weekend. So Rainfall Totals really mounting up across the board, but particularly so across more northern and eastern parts of the country. And we do have some concerns for eastern scotland, which could see heavy and persistent rain throughout this week, which could lead to localised flooding. Of course, the ground is pretty saturated here as well. However, for tuesday, its a fine day. Chilly start there, therell be some early mist and fog, plenty of sunshine around. The breeze picking up across southern britain, and well start to see this Weather Front bring some patchy rain to southwest england, southwest wales, then push up towards Northern Ireland later in the day. And temperatures will be a little bit higher than monday, 12 to 16 degrees. But the winds will continue to pick up through tuesday night. Rain will splash its way northwards, into Northern Ireland and scotland. Elsewhere, largely dry, variable cloud, some clear spells. There will be some further rain pushing into the southwest by the end of the night, but nowhere will see frost. Its going to be a much milder night, 9 to 12 degrees. Wednesday then, we see Storm Babette start to push up in towards southern britain, bringing gales and heavy rain. Initially, well start off with that early rain across scotland. That will tend to clear away. Much of central and Northern Britain will have a fine day on wednesday. Quite windy, though, those winds picking up through the day from the southeast, and it turns much wetter across south wales, Southern England later in the day. Some heavy, thundery rain here as Storm Babette pushes northwards. Widespread gales developing as well. But on the mild side, 13 to 17 or 18 degrees in the south. On thursday, Storm Babette will be affecting the north of the uk, rain piling into eastern scotland, strong and gusty winds here. Further south on thursday, something a little bit quieter, but its going to stay quite windy, with sunny spells, showers or longer spells of rain, and temperatures up to 18 or 19 degrees here, mid teens further north. But we see further very wet and windy weather on friday, certainly across the south and the east of the country. That lasts as we head into the weekend as well. See you later. Live from washington. This is bbc news. Us President Biden will visit tel aviv on wednesday to reaffirm support for israel as it prepares a Ground Offensive into gaza. The United States and israel have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organisations to reach civilians in gaza, and them alone. Gazas Health System is on the verge of collapse, the un says, as israel continues its siege and air strikes aimed at destroying hamas. And two people are shot dead in a Terror Attack in brussels, the gunman is still at large. Hello. I am sumi somaskanda. President biden will visit israel on wednesday as part of a major diplomatic push by the us to contain the escalating conflict between israel and hamas and show support for israel as it prepares a Ground Offensive. Us Secretary Of State Antony Blinken announced the visit after meeting with israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for negotiations that lasted nine hours. Blinken said President Biden will focus on securing the release of hostages taken by hamas while underscoring the need to minimise civilian casualties in gaza
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