Interest rates on the loans can reach 30% per week

Chinese university students are sending nude pictures as IOUs to secure loans.

Sending nudes as IOUs has been accepted on several lending platforms and is not uncommon within QQ group chats. As well as nudes, borrowers are required to send pictures of their ID cards and their family information, including their address and cell phone numbers.

After the nude photo of the borrower holding their ID cards is sent to the lenders, they will be sent up to 15,000 yuan credit with up to 36 month installments.

Credit depends on the borrower’s education background. An undergraduate student can receive 15,000 yuan in credit and those studying at prestigious universities and can receive larger loans.

Self-claimed borrower Li Li said that the weekly interest rate was 30% for the 500 yuan she borrowed in February. Because she failed to meet the payback due dates, she borrowed more money until her debt grew to 55,000 yuan. The borrowing platform threatened to leak her nude pictures.

Li added that many of her fellow students borrowed money in a similar way but were too ashamed to discuss it.

Screenshots of similar threatening messages have gone viral. One photo shows a conversation between a female borrower and a lender, who threatens to send her naked video footage to her family members if she failed to pay back her 10,000 yuan with the annual interest rate of 24% within a week.

“Naked IOUs started long ago. Not only university students but many others also borrowed money with nude pictures,” an insider surnamed Zhang told Nandu Daily.