Loan recovery agents have now switched to new means to track down defaulters and recover loans from them. They have started taking help of social network sites like Facebook.

It happened with a HR executive of a MNC residing in Borivli, Mumbai when he discovered that his newly made female friend on Facebook who arranged for them to meet up at some high end restaurant was in reality a recovery agent. He had flunked the car loan he had taken for his Honda City car.

"The male recovery agents lay in wait at the venue and apprehend the defaulter and seize the car when he arrives," said Sanjay Misra, a recovery executive.

In yet another case, the defaulter had gifted his Santro car to a cousin without informing him about the loan associated with it and fleed to South Africa. After no success in tracing the defaulter, the recovery agents used social network again to trace him and gradually the whereabouts of the car from where it was finally seized.

Vikas Aradhye, owner of Saipratik recovery agency, said, "Most people living in urban India access Facebook and it therefore acts as a good medium to trace defaulters."

Agencies are mostly taking help of female recovery agents to crack such cases.