Hai Phong gangsters come to Nghe An to lend money at 'exorbitant' interest rates

On May 21, 2020, the People's Procuracy of Do Luong district approved an emergency arrest warrant for Nguyen Manh Hai (born 2000) and Nguyen Duy Thanh (born 1987), both with permanent residence in Trang Cat ward, Hai An district, Hai Phong city, for the crime of“Lending at high interest rates in civil transactions”prescribed in Clause 02, Article 201, Penal Code.

Previously, detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department of Do Luong District Police discovered that Thanh and Hai had signs of usury activities, so they secretly investigated. Accordingly, every day, these two subjects printed leaflets and posted them on the fences of households in communes and towns in Do Luong District with advertising content for loans without collateral, quick settlement and low interest rates to attract borrowers.

When the prey takes the bait, they will ask the borrower to provide personal documents including: household registration book, ID card, birth certificate, personal photo... and proceed to verify. If the borrower has the address and residence as stated in the documents, the loan will be granted.

Two subjects at the investigation agency. Photo: Contributor

To avoid being handled by the authorities, Thanh and Cuong asked the borrower to sign a pre-printed receipt with the following content: The borrower must write a loan document that includes the actual loan amount + interest, to avoid being detected by the authorities, and to avoid the practice of borrowing money in installments with 0% interest.

In fact, this line has the form of installment loans with interest rates ranging from 180% to 190%/year. Each loan is a maximum of 20 million VND, payable within 40 days. In addition to the "exorbitant" interest, these subjects also exploit debtors terribly by, if they cannot pay daily, before the end of the day, they will reverse the loan contract, but the actual amount received in the next loan is almost completely deducted from the total loan amount. Therefore, the debt is still there but the interest has been paid more than the original loan amount. Not to mention, if the debtor does not pay on time, they will be threatened.

After consolidating the records, on May 20, 2020, the Investigation Police Agency of Do Luong District Police inspected the office rented by Thanh and Hai as a loan transaction place, located in Block 6, Do Luong Town, seizing 08 loan records along with many papers and documents showing illegal credit activities.

Through investigation, Thanh confessed to renting the house to operate loan sharking since October 2019. Thanh and Hai contributed capital to operate illegal credit.

Currently, the authorities are expanding the investigation of the case.