Former debt collector from F88 Company receives prison sentence.
When borrowers fail to repay their debts, debt collection teams hired by a company send threatening, abusive, and insulting messages to the borrowers and their relatives and friends.
On July 31, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced defendant Nguyen Le Nghia Thong (24 years old, residing in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) to 2 years and 6 months in prison; Tran Quoc Lam (28 years old, residing in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) to 4 years and 6 months in prison; and Nguyen Hong Nguyen (28 years old, from Binh Dinh province) to 1 year and 6 months in prison.
Tran Ngoc Thao (49 years old, from Tay Ninh province) received a sentence of 1 year, 4 months, and 21 days in prison. Because the prison term was equal to the time spent in pretrial detention, Thao was released immediately at the court.
The remaining three defendants in the case also received sentences ranging from 2 years and 6 months to 3 years and 6 months in prison, all for the crime of "Extortion".
According to the indictment, on September 21, 2022, Ms. Le Thi Hong T. went to a branch of F88 Company (in Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City) to mortgage her motorcycle registration, along with her personal photos and the phone numbers of friends and relatives, to borrow 22.7 million VND. However, Ms. T. was only able to pay the interest and principal for 3 months before becoming unable to make further payments.
As a debt collector for F88 Business Corporation (hereinafter referred to as F88 Company), Nguyen Le Nghia Thong was provided with a list of overdue customers by his team leader, Duong Giap Sam (whose background is unknown), and was instructed to search for information to collect the debts. The list included Ms. Le Thi Hong T.
After finding information about Ms. T., Thong repeatedly went to her house and called her, demanding that she repay the debt. However, Ms. T. was unable to pay, so Thong sent abusive messages and threatened to post information about her fraud on social media. Seeing that Ms. T. still refused to pay, Thong also sent threatening messages to her brother.
Nguyen Trong N. also mortgaged his car registration to F88 Company to borrow over 80 million VND, but after 3 months, he was no longer able to repay the debt. To collect the debt, Thong sent abusive and threatening messages to N.'s relatives and friends.
Similar to victims T. and N., in April 2022, Ms. Ngo Thi Kim X. went to the F88 branch on Binh Long Street (Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) to mortgage her motorbike registration and borrow 30 million VND. After paying the principal and interest for two months, Ms. X. was no longer able to repay the loan.
Under the direction of a manager named Tram (whose identity is unknown), Nguyen Hong Nguyen (a debt collection agent for F88 Company) repeatedly sent threatening and insulting messages to Ms. X and her relatives and friends.
Outraged by the threatening behavior of F88 Company employees, these individuals went to the Ho Chi Minh City Police to file a report.
In addition to collecting debts for the company, Tran Quoc Lam, Nguyen Van Ngoc, Ngo Van Nghia, and Tu Hai Nguyen (employees of F88 Company) also collected debts for their colleague Tran Ngoc Thao.
According to the details of the case, in July 2021, Thao and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu T. pooled their money to play online gambling games. Seeing that playing games could generate money, Thao opened a credit card at Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) with a limit of 200 million VND. She then withdrew 180 million VND from the card and transferred it to Ms. T. to deposit into her game account.
In November 2021, Ms. T. informed Thao that the network system was undergoing maintenance and she was unable to log in, thus preventing her from withdrawing the money. Thao requested that Ms. T. return the 180 million VND to repay the bank loan, but Ms. T. did not have the money. In June 2022, Ms. T. wrote a promissory note acknowledging a debt of over 234 million VND to Thao.
After repeatedly calling to demand payment but receiving no response from Ms. T, Thảo asked Lâm, Ngọc, Nghĩa, and Nguyên to help her collect the debt, promising them 50% of the recovered amount as payment.
Afterward, Lam and his accomplices took turns going to Ms. T.'s house, sending messages demanding that she repay Thao's debt. Because Ms. T. refused to pay, Lam went to her daughter's school to monitor and photograph the child, sending the photos to Ms. T. along with the message, "What about the money? Are you going to stay silent?" to intimidate her.
Despite having transferred 70 million VND to Thao and Lam on several occasions, Ms. T. continued to receive threats. In early March 2023, Ms. T. filed a complaint against this group with the police.
