KOZHIKODE: Thrissur native Jobesh Joseph, who lost his job with an event management company in Kozhikode when Covid struck, is among those who have fallen prey to online loan application fraud. Realising he had been duped, he stopped paying money. However, he then started receiving threats which prompted him to file complaints, first with the Kozhikode police and then with the Cyber Cell.
“On December 7, I withdrew my complaint with the Cyber Cell after I realised that it was not going to do any good,” said Jobesh who is now on a mission to create awareness about such scams. He said it all started with a Google search.
“I was looking up loan schemes to start my art company. Soon, my phone was flooded with messages detailing various schemes. I chose ‘Liquid cash’ app,” Jobesh said. He was sanctioned Rs 3,000 of which Rs 1,900 was transferred to his account while the rest was taken by the firm as processing charge and interest. “I was asked to repay within seven days.
Later, they gave me Rs 8,000. However, the interest rate started shooting up to the point that I was unable to repay. Soon, people speaking in Hindi started calling me and threatening me. They also had my phone, Aadhaar, PAN and other details and could track everything I was doing in my phone,” he said.
The "agents" then began calling his wife, friends and other relatives and defamed him. “Several WhatsApp groups were started and messages with my photographs were shared among my contacts. I paid Rs 1.6 lakh as interest and processing charge to the firm,” he said. Now, smartphones are a nightmare for Jobesh.