Loan-for-porn: How college students in China are being forced to send nude pictures in return for more cash

Beijing: Anger is rising in China over a so-called loan-for-porn scheme under which female college students are being forced to trade in their naked pictures in return for cash.

At the centre of the scandal are shady Internet lenders who coerce female students into sending their nude pictures as collateral for the loans.

The scandal has been reported in the Chinese state media.

What's shocking is that the students have to hold identification cards while clicking their nude pictures!

And if they do, what they get in return is a higher loan amount, sometimes two to five times the normal sum, reported The Guardian quoting the Beijing Youth Daily.

But, if the students fail to repay the loan, secured at exorbitant interest rates, they risk getting their pictures leaked online.

Reports said JD Capital’s Jiedaibao website is the platform on which such transactions are taking place.

Individuals – mostly friends and acquaintances – use Jiedaibao to lend or borrow money on their own terms.

The loan-for-porn scheme has received widespread condemnation on social media.

“These kinds of loans are like opium. Why does the regulatory authority neglect it?” wrote one user on China’s number one social media platform Weibo.

Many were less sympathetic in their reactions.

“Are they deserving of sympathy? No, they aren’t. You should spend the money you are able make. Why you spend the money that you have no ability to earn?” wrote another user.