This sounds nasty.
But much worse, it sounds like a precursor to phones that cut off your access to everything except, maybe, emergency services should your social credit score fall too low.
From rest of world
Lenders are turning to coercive loan apps that shut down smartphones if customers fall behind on payments.
Last December, 28-year-old Roshan Zameer was gripped with panic. His phone had suddenly stopped working. As an electrical repairman in the outskirts of Bangalore, Zameer needed to make a call to check if the main electricity line was turned off before he started work at a building: information crucial to his safety. A message appeared on his screen: “Pls pay the amt via online through our website to unlock your device.” His Samsung Galaxy A71 phone was then blocked by a pre-installed app, restricting access to all of his phone’s functions, including the ability to make phone calls.
Zameer had bought the cellphone secondhand online in August. The original owner, it turns out, purchased it with the promise of paying off the device through equated monthly installments (EMI), a fixed payment schedule. Zameer didn’t know the phone was on a payment plan until the day after he bought it. 15 days after he purchased it, the device automatically locked and alerted him that he was roughly $40 behind. He’s been stuck paying monthly installments ever since.
Despite widespread access to low-cost smartphones (the cheapest costing $78), the average Indian still needs to work 63 days to afford one. It is why financing phones has become an important driver of sales. An estimated 40%–60% of all high-end smartphones — in the $100–$400 range — are sold on installment-based plans, according to the market intelligence company International Data Corporation.....
....MUCH MORE
It sounds like an escalation of this, from May 2020:
Meanwhile In Kenya: "This lending app publicly shames you when you’re late on loan payment"
