* Nicolas Lainez is Visiting Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and an Adjunct Faculty at NUS in Singapore; Tô Thu Phuong lives in Hanoi and holds a Bachelor in Human Rights and Political Science from Columbia University and Sciences-Po Paris; and Bui Thi Thu Doai lives in Hanoi and is studying towards a BA in Development and Economics at the London School of Economics. [...] • These Facebook groups function as: • forums where members coalesce for guidance on navigating the expanding and labyrinthic landscape of lending apps; • milieus of expression and comfort for over-indebted, isolated and harassed members; and • spaces where members express their desire to challenge and take revenge against digital lenders and debt collectors that victimise them. [...] They offer personal document fraud and fake identities to borrow under a different name, referees-for-hire or the provision of a reference number for borrowers to put forward in their loan apps, and surrogacy services whereby members offer to borrow for borrowers in exchange for a percentage of the debt payment. [...] To prevent or put a stop to threatening messages and cyber-bullying tactics used by debt collectors, borrowers are advised to meticulously erase their phone and social media data, as well as tighten and reduce their online presence to a minimum to stop the flow of information supplied to their harassers. [...] The desire to undermine lenders’ threats is taken to the extreme when members respond to debt collectors’ threats with taunts and provocations, by daring debt collectors to come to their residences or by sending condescending words to them.
- Pages
- 8
- Published in
- Singapore
