From Kidnapping To Rape: Loan Sharks Reportedly Trapping People In UK Amid Cost Of Living Crisis
Unlicensed lenders have been making it a nightmare for the crisis hit people of UK, by going to the extent of kidnapping and rapes for the sake of extorting money.
From fuel to food, prices of everything have been soaring high in the UK (United Kingdom), landing people in the ¡®cost of living crisis¡¯. The crisis has been making it increasingly tough for households to make ends meet. And to make things go bad to worse, it's the unlicensed lenders that are stepping in and offering loans to the desperate at astronomical interest rates.
But the nightmare doesn't end here. Some loan sharks have even been kidnapping and raping individuals for the sake of extortion, as per a BBC report.
PA media
As per Kim, a victim of debt, who asked the BBC not to use her real name, "It's just endless. You know you work hard for that money and you're paying these huge amounts back when you might have only had a small loan, but you know you're paying double back to them."
At one point, Kim and her partner, who live in north-west England, had four loans from the same unlicensed lender and were paying more than half of their net income in interest.
The lender would turn up at the house at 07:30. There were constant messages on social media, the lender knew when payday was, and Kim feared she would pursue her at her workplace.
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Kidnapping & Even Raping For Extortion
Matthew Greenwood, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ)'s acting head of debt, told the BBC "They borrow to fund everyday costs of living, such as a gas bill or electric bill, things as small as a pram, and then they get exploited by those people who seek to extort them for as much money as they can get out of them, offering arbitrary terms, little to no paperwork and an extortionate rate of repayment."
Threats can turn into real violence in some cases, he says: "We've seen loan sharks that have kidnapped individuals and we've even seen loan sharks go as far as rape."
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EPA
The Unlicensed Lenders
As people have been unwilling to talk about debt, there is little data about unlicensed lenders, but the think tank CSJ¡¯s research last year questioned a representative sample of 3,363 people in England. Of these, 81 (about one in 40) were at the time borrowing from unlicensed lenders.
As per a BBC report, loan sharks have long operated on housing estates in poorer areas, but increasingly use social media to drum up business and threaten clients.
Even for Kim, the realization about the loan shark came when on Christmas she asked the lender to delay the next payment so she could afford gifts for her children.
When the lender refused, she tried to contact "head office" but found no record of a loan company that she had been led to believe was legitimate.
Finally, she went to the authorities and the lender was arrested.
But what about the other victims? It's fair to say that it remains to be seen for how long would such crimes and frauds haunt the people of the UK.
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