Испытывая нехватку денег и остро нуждаясь в 30 000 найр (около 20 долларов США), Мариам Огундайро обратилась к кредитному приложению, скачала его и зарегистрировала свой номер телефона.

Деньги были быстро отправлены, но пришли с процентной ставкой в 21,6 процента, которая должна была быть выплачена через две недели. Как и многие в Нигерии, пострадавшие от инфляции, Огундайро была слишком бедна, чтобы выплатить то, что она задолжала.

Затем последовал поток преследований — тактика, которая стала отличительной чертой многих кредитных приложений в четвертой по величине экономике Африки.

«Они начали звонить моим телефонным контактам, когда я не мог вовремя расплатиться, говоря, что я им должен», — сказал Огундайро AFP. «Я потеряла свою безопасность, и это делает меня такой грустной и напуганной».

Такие кредитные приложения в Нигерии, которые активисты называют «хищническими», отправляют текстовые сообщения с угрозами и сливают конфиденциальные фотографии на свои мобильные телефоны, когда люди, зажатые продолжающимся экономическим кризисом в стране, не могут расплатиться.

Часто соблазняясь ложными обещаниями низких процентных ставок, тысячи нигерийцев обратились к приложениям для личных финансов в поисках быстрого доступа к краткосрочным кредитам, поскольку галопирующие цены оказывали давление на доходы, а инфляция составила 21,8 процента в конце июля.

Огундайро боролась с этим смущением в течение нескольких недель, пока не смогла расплатиться со своим счетом.

«Быстрое решение» пошло не так

«Друг порекомендовал мне это сделать, потому что мне нужно было быстрое решение», — сказал AFP другой пострадавший, 24-летний парень, который взял кредит два года назад, будучи студентом университета, и попросил не называть его имени.

After spending more than 300,000 naira conducting laboratory investigations for his final thesis and still needing more funds to complete his research and beat submission deadlines, the money seemed like a lifesaver.

He took out 70,000 naira when he was a final-year student in 2023. He was meant to pay back about 110,000 naira within a month, but was too broke.

The loan app then began sending messages to his phone contacts that he was a "ritualist killer". He said he was not aware he had given the app access to his contacts.

"A couple of my coursemates got the messages," he told AFP. "It wasn't the case of unwillingness to pay, it was just a case of impossibility."

An increasing number of Nigerians have turned to personal loans following reforms by President Bola Tinubu to shock the country's moribund economy and remove costly subsidies.

Though some economists have voiced approval for the measures, Tinubu's policies have sent inflation skyrocketing and the value of the naira plunging, hitting many ordinary Nigerians in their pockets.

Even when apps mislead people on interest rates, they can often provide better rates than traditional banks -- with the benchmark interest rate at 27.5 percent, conventional loans can come with interest at 27 to 48 percent.

While there was no breakdown for so-called fintech apps, lenders in the country handed out about 470 billion naira in personal loans in the last quarter of 2024. By December, outstanding personal loans jumped "by 21.27 percent to 3.82 trillion naira compared with the level at end-September 2024", the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said in March. 

As of the same month, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) approved 408 loan apps, up from 269 in September 2024, with 42 receiving conditional clearance. The CBN approved 23 apps, up from 14 in the third quarter of last year.

Forty-seven were delisted and 88 placed on watchlists for various offences including harassment. The watchdog had said in the past that some loan apps were operating in the country illegally.

Ростовщики «процветают»

Many of the loan apps' ease of access and swift processing create a trap, said Funmi Oderinde, a lawyer at Citizens' Gavel, a civil society organisation that has been pushing back against the lenders.

 

Одна из групп поддержки жертв на Facebook насчитывает более 21 000 участников. Фото: Бенсон Ибеабучи / AFP/Источник файла: AFP

The organisation has so far received at least 1,300 complaints over "predatory digital loan apps".

"These promises are deceptive, and borrowers soon face unethical recovery practices such as defamation, harassment, threats, breaches of data privacy, arbitrary fines, and excessively high interest rates aimed at pressuring them into repayment," Oderinde said. 

Some victims of the harassment have formed different support groups on Facebook. One such group has more than 21,000 members.

A victim told Citizens' Gavel that, after her phone was accessed remotely, a fake obituary and a real nude photo were shared with her contacts by a loan app.

According to Oderinde, two of the people who approached the organisation for legal help "could have died" due to harassment from loan app agents.

The FCCPC, in a note sent to lenders in August, said it would "periodically monitor interest rates for services of consumer lending, and ensure rates are not exploitative".

But despite regulatory moves, dozens of apps continue to operate under new names, and desperate borrowers often do not check approval lists before applying.

The result is that loan sharks "thrive", Oderinde said, "because of weak sanctions and poor enforcement".