A crime on the rise
The practice that Armando suffered is now known as “mountain of debts“, and it is a form of extortion that is growing like foam. According to the Citizen Council for Security and Justice of Mexico City Between January and June of this year, 5,452 events were reported for this extortion scheme.
“The scam is based on the offer of an easy and immediate loan, practically without requirements, through applications for mobile devices; the interests increase without prior notice until they become unpayable and then the threats to extort money from the debtor begin”, explains the president of the Council, Salvador Guerrero Chiprés.
Between January and June 2021, 161 “mountain debt” events were reported per month; however, this year the crime has grown to 892 every 30 days, which represents an increase of 454%.
Mexico City is the entity that has the most reports for “mountain debts”, since it concentrates 55%, followed by entities such as Veracruz, Mexico, Coahuila, Veracruz, Jalisco and Puebla.
In 86% of the cases registered by the Citizen Council, the amounts of loans range between 500 and 10,000 pesos, although there are also debts for more than 100,000 pesos.
“For the collection, the criminals, who had already requested access to the victim’s phone from the app, threaten to expose her and discredit her with her contacts, spread intimate material or hurt her and her family,” Chiprés details.
36% of the victims were threatened with collecting the debt from their contacts, 19% with defamation and 18% were warned or insulted, data from the Citizen Council show.
