CHENNAI: A 25-year-old loan recovery agent was arrested by the West Zone cyber crime wing of Chennai police for posing as an advocate and harassing a woman over the phone by repeatedly calling her, demanding repayment of a loan which she never availed.

The complainant, a 49-year-old woman living in Saligramam, said that she started receiving phone calls last week from a man and a woman. The callers claimed to be advocates practising at the Madras High Court and insisted that she settle dues on the loan she took from a finance company.

The woman who never took the loan questioned the caller, after which the man threatened her with obscene language. Based on her complaint with the NCRP (National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal), a case was registered.

A police team traced and arrested the accused, Saran (25) of Alapakkam near Porur. An initial probe revealed that Saran worked as a third-party loan recovery agent for a private company. He contacted individuals, including those who did not avail loans, and threatened them by posing as an advocate and claiming to call from an advocate's office or the Madras High Court. He used different names and misrepresented his identity while making the calls.

Saran was produced before a magistrate's court on Friday and remanded in judicial custody.