Yakubu Davies (not real name), a Lagos State resident, has narrated how Cash Mall, a money lending outfit, defamed him over a N12,000 loan.

Davies, a plumber, told FIJ that some challenges had prevented him from repaying the loan on the due date.

“After borrowing N12,000 from the company on September 3, I decided to repay them exactly a week after,” Davies said.

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“However, while trying to pay them back, I had issues with the repayment account number I was given by the company.

“My bank app kept telling that ‘the account could not be found.'”

Davies said he immediately notified one of the company’s agent of the challenge but was told to “continue trying”.

“After several hours of trying, I slept off in my sitting position. I woke up the next day and tried making the payment again. This time, I was already a day behind the deadline,” he said.

“Around 11 am, my niece suddenly called me to say someone sent her a text message saying I was a criminal that had run off with their company’s money.

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“After I told her to forward to me, a client that I used to do plumbing works for also forwarded a similar message to me. This meant that Cash Mall had resorted to defaming me despite making several attempts to repay them.”

After the incident, Davies said he decided not to repay the loan anymore.

“Since the image I was trying to protect had been damaged, I decided not to make any repayment again. They sent defamatory messages to almost all the contacts I had on my phone,” he said.

“In October, some of their agents called to apologise for their actions. I then told them to tell all my contacts that I was not a criminal, and after this, we could talk. But they still did not do that.”

The plumber said he received a threatening message from Cash Mall on November 2, stating that he and his family members would be dealt with by the DSS if the loan repayment was not made on time.

“I am waiting for their DSS to come and carry me,” a laughing Davies said.

In August, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) instructed fintech solution providers and telecommunication companies who were not duly registered businesses in Nigeria and had violated the privacy rights of borrowers to shut down.

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Despite fines, sanctions and eventual shutdown of some of these firms, many of them have continued to devise new means of harassing their debtors. Some of them have also changed their names and logos.

FIJ made several phone calls to Cash Mall for comments, but they were not answered. A mail sent to the company had also not been responded to at press time.