A son of a BJP functionary, identified as Karan (name changed), has allegedly fallen victim to a loan application fraud and paid Rs 45 lakh against a loan amount of Rs 6 lakh. The miscreants have targeted his family members by uploading their morphed photos on social media, leading to the victim’s hospitalization due to depression.

According to the complaint filed by his uncle Ramesh (name changed) to Jalahalli police, the fraudsters have been calling them from unknown numbers and claiming to be employees of the ‘Make Money’ application for the past three months. They have been harassing Karan’s wife and daughter and have also created a fake Facebook profile in the name of Karan’s father, posting obscene photos of the two women.

A few months ago, Karan took a loan of Rs 6 lakh from the app. During the loan application process, he allowed access to his contacts and photo gallery on his phone. After a couple of weeks, the operators of the loan app began harassing him to repay the loan amount.

Karan cleared the dues with interest, but the operators continued to charge him exorbitant rates and claimed that his loan amount was still not cleared. When he refused to pay more money, they threatened to send his nude photographs to his contacts and even sent him a couple of morphed images as proof of their intent.

The fraudsters managed to extort around Rs 45 lakh from Karan but continued to harass him for more money. Unable to bear the harassment, Karan lodged a complaint with the north-east CEN Crime police station.

Ramesh revealed that despite Karan clearing the loan, the ‘Make Money’ staff continued to harass him. This led to Karan’s parents discovering his suicidal tendencies and taking him to the hospital before things turned worse.

After Karan filed the complaint, the miscreants stopped harassing him for 15 days. However, they continued to harass Ramesh’s wife and daughter, posting obscene photos and derogatory content about them on Facebook. Ramesh’s wife and daughter have also been facing depression due to the constant harassment.

Ramesh informed the police that the fraudsters made phone calls from multiple numbers, including local and foreign ones, using abusive language and issuing threats in Hindi. Karan, who is now looking after his father’s business, has been undergoing treatment in the hospital for the past 18 days.

Both cases have been registered under the Information Technology Act and other IPC sections, and investigations are currently underway. A senior officer stated that some phone calls made to Karan and his family members originated from Pakistan and the UAE, while the rest were from local numbers. Measures have been taken to block the fake Facebook account created by the fraudsters.