Many schools in Nghe An did not report harassment for debt collection.

Borrow 40 million VND, after 1 year increase to 220 million VND

In mid-June, although it was half a month past the deadline required by the Department of Education and Training, many schools and educational institutions in the province had yet to report on being terrorized by credit organizations for debt collection. Previously, after a series of articles from Nghe An Newspaper, the Department of Education and Training issued a document requesting units whose teachers and staff had been terrorized, had debt collected, or were defrauded during the period from January 1, 2021 to May 20, 2022, to compile a list and send it to the department, through the Political and Ideological Department before May 28, 2022, for synthesis and reporting to the authorities for handling measures.

Up to now, through reports sent by units, the Department of Education and Training has only counted 95 people who have been terrorized for debt collection. Of these, 25 people confirmed that they had borrowed money from credit institutions. The remaining 70 people did not borrow but were still terrorized for debt collection. Among the localities reporting, Vinh City has the largest number with 32 cadres and teachers being terrorized for debt collection.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Be - Head of the Political and Ideological Department (Department of Education and Training) said that this number is still very small compared to the reality, because many schools hide and do not report. "There are many schools where credit organizations clearly terrorize debt collection all the way to the office, but when we ask for a report, they do not see it. When we call down to ask, they say that it is the teacher's right, they do not want to report", Mr. Be said.

Among the schools that concealed, Ngoc Son Primary School (Thanh Chuong) is a typical example. Accordingly, the Department of Education and Training of this district reported to the department that there were no cases of terrorism in the entire district to collect debt. However, in reality, at least one teacher of Ngoc Son Primary School borrowed money, and debt collectors sent emails to the department to pressure them to collect the money. After reviewing the report, the department contacted the school and they finally admitted to this case.

In fact, according to the reporter's investigation, at a high school in Vinh City alone, more than 100 teachers and staff were harassed by debt collection. The principal also confirmed this information with the Nghe An Newspaper reporter. However, in the list compiled by the Department of Education and Training, this school only had 2 people.

Among the 25 teachers who confirmed that they had borrowed money from credit institutions, there was a case of a female teacher who said that from about April to May 2021, she borrowed a total of 40 million VND from credit institutions. Since then, she has had to pay a total of 120 million VND. But until now, she is still being harassed by these credit institutions to collect debt. They informed her that she still owes 100 million VND...

Impersonating the district portal

Sharing with Nghe An Newspaper, Ms. Ngo Thi Huyen - Permanent Vice President of the Fatherland Front Committee of Anh Son district said that in the past few days, she has been continuously terrorized by text messages, threats and slander from debt collectors, even though she and her relatives did not borrow money from anyone.

Ms. Huyen said that a citizen in Cam Son commune borrowed money from this credit institution. But this person currently lives in the South. After failing to contact the debt collector, this credit institution immediately attacked the debtor's mother who lives in her hometown in Cam Son commune. They then moved on to attack the commune leaders and then the district leaders.

Debt collectors used fake images from the Anh Son District Electronic Information Portal to slander Ms. Huyen and the leaders of Cam Son Commune. Photo: TH

“They knew that I was a member of the district Party Executive Committee, in charge of monitoring Cam Son commune, so they called to terrorize me. After threatening me, they also slandered and defamed me,” Ms. Huyen said. They also faked images and impersonated the Anh Son district electronic information portal to post information accusing Ms. Huyen of covering up for two Cam Son commune officials to borrow money and embezzle. While in reality, these two officials did not borrow money from anyone.

Not only that, they also got Ms. Huyen's phone contacts, then texted about 70 people, falsely accusing Ms. Huyen of accepting bribes and embezzling money from Cam Son residents. In addition, Cam Son commune officials were similarly terrorized, falsely accused of embezzling charity money from the people. "I don't understand how they got my phone contacts," Ms. Huyen questioned, and at the same time expressed her hope that the authorities would investigate and handle the matter seriously.

They also accessed Ms. Huyen's phone contacts and sent messages to about 70 of her friends. Photo: Th

Nghe An police issue warning

In a related development, on June 11, Nghe An Provincial Police also issued a warning about this situation for the first time. According to Nghe An Police, lending and debt collection activities always have collusion and direction from domestic and foreign subjects, causing many difficulties in detection, investigation and handling.

After attracting and enticing people who need to borrow money, the subjects proactively contact via Zalo, Telegram, Messenger applications... claiming to be customer care staff to guide them through loan procedures. To create trust, they also provide personal images, citizen identification, agency address, workplace, contact phone number... However, in reality, these images and information are all impersonations of other people or faked through cutting and editing tricks. Once they have created trust with the borrower, the subjects provide links to download loan applications on mobile phones. These applications are usually not available on CH Play application (Android operating system) and App Store application (IOS operating system). After installing the application, the subjects instruct users to fill in personal information, bank account information, the application requests permission to access the phone's contacts to collect relevant information to serve the subject's debt collection purposes.

Dien Chau police take statements from "black credit" lenders. Photo: Nghe An Police

After completing the procedures, the subjects will lend the requested amount of money with an interest rate of 10 - 15%/year (equivalent to or slightly higher than the bank interest rate). However, if the borrower is late in paying, he will be fined for breach of contract from 3 - 8% of the loan amount, and one day of late payment will be fined an additional 2 - 5% of the loan amount. Thus, the amount to be paid can be 5, 10 times the original loan amount in a short period of time (a few months).

When the debt payment deadline comes and the borrower has not paid or has not paid in full, the subjects are willing to use many measures of intimidation and mental terrorism to collect the debt. In particular, the subjects use junk SIM cards to call and text to curse and threaten; contact relatives (often contacted phone numbers or names in the contact list) to pressure them to collect money; use personal images, cut and paste them and spread them on social networks, send emails, call leaders and managers to slander, denounce, and pressure them to collect debt... affecting the honor and reputation of many organizations and individuals. The above-mentioned actions of the subjects show signs of violating the law, causing negative impacts on security and order in the locality.

In the face of the above situation, Nghe An Provincial Police requested the Police of 21 districts, cities and towns to notify the Police of wards, communes and towns to propagate to the people about the above loan sharking tricks to prevent themselves. At the same time, when there is related information, promptly report to the nearest local police to be guided to resolve and serve the work of fighting and handling the subjects. In particular, people should go to reputable banks to borrow money at interest rates regulated by the State Bank, avoid getting caught up in "black credit" activities and then "lose money and get sick".