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Loan sharks target new victims via WhatsApp and Facebook
Criminals have been using social media – from dating sites to local community groups – to find, threaten and control people in debt
You have mail: pressure from loan sharks or criminal gangs can come via your smartphone. Photograph: Rafael Henrique/Shutterstock
You have mail: pressure from loan sharks or criminal gangs can come via your smartphone. Photograph: Rafael Henrique/Shutterstock
Sun 9 May 2021 01.45 EDT
Local WhatsApp groups have been one of the silver linings of the pandemic, creating community ties and support networks. Yet loan sharks are increasingly using these groups to extort money from their victims, according to England’s Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT), an organisation that prosecutes illegal lenders and supports victims.