Juliana Francis
The Executive Director of Esther Child Rights Foundation, Ms Esther Ekwem, has concluded plans to sue an online loan company, EsayKash, for claiming she owed them and sending her ‘Rest In Peace and Gone Too Soon,’ when she had never borrowed money from them.
According to Ekwem, she woke up on Wednesday the 15th of February 2024, to discover that the online firm, EsayKash had shared her pictures and shared obituary.
Some of the messages read: “Since you have proven to be a hardened criminal and a fraudster and you have chosen to be the reason for the destruction of these innocent people’s lives and the lives of your over 500 innocent contacts in this new month, we are also going to help you with that.
“As you can see, the above message will be sent to all your innocent family members, in-laws, pastors/imam, workplace and your complete contacts after my agents have picked their pictures from their profile and designed them exactly like this and sent them to them and all social media platforms.
“This will be our final warning message to you, the next thing you will start seeing is our nonstop actions if we don’t receive your complete repayment on or before 4:30 pm today.”
They also sent a goat image, which and wrote on the picture, “A chronic debtor, face of a thief and hardened criminal, a fraudster.”
Ekwem said: “They have been calling me with different phone lines and threatening me. I did not collect any loan from this firm and what it did traumatised me seriously. I will not let this go. Even if someone owes them, must they go to this length, let alone someone who did not collect any loan from them?
“It is a friend that collected a loan from them. I don’t even know how they got my details and pictures.”
Mr Friday Ebute Pius, who collected the loan, claimed that he had already paid the firm.
He narrated: “ It’s true I collected a loan from the online firm, but I had already refunded it. I was surprised when they called, claiming I had not paid. I explained myself to them, they said I paid into the wrong account. What do they mean by a wrong account? I paid into the same account which they gave to me. Now, they are calling and threatening me, asking to repay a loan which I had already paid.”
One of the numbers Ekwem had been calling and sending traumatic images and messages was 08078949539 and the caller used to introduce himself as Mr David. Our reporter repeatedly called the phone number to hear EsayKash’s side of the story, but it did not connect.
Our reporter also left WhatsApp messages but did not receive a response.
According to benjamindada.com, “The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) operates within the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and is responsible for protecting market competition and promoting consumer protection.
“The Commission is empowered by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018 (FCCPA) to, among other things, promote fair business practices and safeguard the interests of consumers.
“Borrowers need to ascertain that the digital loan app they want to use is FCCPC-approved to ensure their interests are protected. FCCPC has continued to crack down on predatory loan apps to protect the rights of consumers in Nigeria. Since the agency was formed in 2018, it has been holding loan apps that violate the data protection rights of their users with stronger arms.”
