An increasing number of Chinese university students are sending nude photos as collateral to loan sharks, according to a recent report from the Southern Metropolis Daily.
The disturbing report alleges that the lenders often threaten to leak the photos to the public if borrowers fail to repay debts with interest. In some cases, loan sharks have gone as far as threatening sexual violence.
Reporters at the Guangzhou-based paper went undercover, joining QQ groups with lenders. They took screenshots of messages the loan sharks sent out in which they threatened to leak naked photos if loans were not paid back.
Screenshots of similarly threatening messages went viral online in the wake of the report. One woman shared a message from a loan shark threatening to send her nude photos and video to her family if she couldn't pay back her RMB10,000 loan within a week.
A former borrower using the pseudonym Li Li told the Southern Metropolis Daily that the lenders typically grant loans only after students provided copies of their ID card, student cards and family data in addition to the nude photos. Once all that's been sent over, the students reportedly receive loans of up to RMB15,000 to be paid in 36-month installments, with students at bigger-name universities or doctorate programs reportedly receiving even larger loans.
The credit can vary based on the borrower's educational background.
Li, a female university student, said that the weekly interest rate for her RMB500 loan from an unnamed online platform in February of this year was 30 percent. However, she failed to make payments in time, eventually accumulating an overdue payment of RMB55,000. The company then threatened to release her naked pictures.
Li was not alone — she told the paper that many of her fellow students were in her same predicament.
A Chengdu-based insider, meanwhile said that nude photos are acceptable as IOUs in the underground private loans market, and in some cases worth tens of thousands of yuan.
Following the exposé, several online lending platforms that secretly accepted nudes sent messages on their QQ platforms banning the practice.
[Images via Southern Metropolis Daily, People's Daily]
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