Remember those simpler times before the internet? Back when if you took a naked photo you didn’t need to worry about it becoming available to anyone with a heartbeat and Wi-Fi connection… well, those days are over – particularly for a new generation of money hungry youth willing to bare it all for a loan.
That’s right, China has a naked loan phenomenon, a shady practice of loan sharks demanding naked photos of young women that want loans.
In response to the situation – which has received global media coverage – authorities in Guangzhou have clamped down on seven online finance companies in the city, according to a report by Xinkuaibao, a news outlet run by Yangcheng Evening News.
During a press conference held by the Guangzhou Municipal Government on April 9, the Guangzhou Finance Bureau said among the seven busted online finance companies, four were based in Tianhe and three in Yuexiu District, but none of them were registered in Guangzhou.
Based on the reports we found, the exact nature of the crackdown and the intended outcome has not been discussed. It is currently unclear what kind of punishment – if any – will be dealt out to the financial institutes involved in naked loans.
Over 60 percent of the students applying for loans from the seven companies were spending the borrowed cash on “shopping and entertainment,” one survey indicated.
The same survey also blasted the financial companies for playing “on the ignorance of the students’ financial knowledge.”
The Guangzhou Finance Bureau, along with the Guangzhou branch of China Central Bank, has arranged educational campaigns on Guangzhou campuses to raise students’ awareness of financial fraud.
So how did all this nude-money-madness start? Well, curious reader, for all intents and purposes the story began last June, when a total of 64 selfies showing naked girls holding their IDs were sold on Chinese online forums.
Six months later, in December of 2016, naked loans made headlines at major Chinese news publications when a 10-gigabyte file containing explicit photos, videos and personal information of as many as 167 women appeared online.
The women featured in the images were predominantly college students who borrowed money (with extraordinarily high interest rates) from online finance companies via Jiedaibao.com, an online Chinese capital loaning site that boasts 130 million registered users.
Prior to receiving the money, the women were asked to send naked photos with identification in the images. They were also required to submit their phone number, a family member's number and a written IOU declaring they submitted the photo of their own accord.
As for why these college girls are willing to bare it all for a loan, there were several answers. Some said they needed the money to buy luxury items, while others wanted money to start businesses.
The above note reads: “I, myself [name redacted], borrowed RMB2,000 from Yuandong Finance Company for two months. The interest of the loan is RMB2,000 and I’m leaving a photo and video of myself as a pledge. If I exceed the deadline of payment, I will bear the result. This (receipt of loan) has legal effect.”
READ MORE: Chinese Loan Sharks Demand Nudes from College Students
[Images via NetEase]
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