The country's largest black credit group was destroyed.

On the morning of November 29, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police coordinated with the Criminal Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) to announce the initial investigation results of a project to eradicate the largest illegal credit organization in the country, operating in 63 provinces and cities.

Colonel Khuong Duy Oanh (Deputy Director of Thanh Hoa Provincial Police) said that on July 19, Thanh Hoa Provincial General Hospital received a young man with multiple injuries and critical health. When the person taking him to the emergency room learned that the patient had died, he ran away.

Thanh Hoa Provincial Police identified the victim as Nguyen Van Minh (19 years old), an employee of Nam Long Finance Company based in Ho Chi Minh City. Minh worked for a branch in Bac Kan province with the task of collecting debts.

Around July, Minh collected money from customers but did not return it to the branch and also pawned a motorbike for 20 million VND, then fled. Nguyen Duc Thanh (Director of Nam Long Finance Company) then directed his juniors to control Minh and take him to the headquarters in Hanoi, to organize a "disciplinary" meeting. They asked Minh to apologize to the company's leaders, get signatures from each person to let him stay or take him to court. The group presented a bowl of rice and a bowl of waste, forcing Minh to choose 10 times. Each time the victim crawled to the bowl of rice, he was tortured and beaten.

On July 10, Mr. Minh was taken back to Thanh Hoa for "reform and education". Due to being beaten so much, the victim lost consciousness and had to be taken to the emergency room.

Determining this to be an especially serious case, related to organized crime of illegal credit activities, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police reported to the Ministry of Public Security to establish a special project.

Initial investigation results show that Nam Long Finance Company is just a "ghost company", without a business registration, specializing in lending transactions with "exorbitant" interest rates, with customers having to pay "compound interest" of up to more than 1,000% per year.

The total amount of transactions at the company is estimated at more than 510 billion VND. When debtors are slow to pay, the group will assault, threaten and extort property worth many times more than the loan amount.

Nam Long has 26 branches in 63 provinces and cities nationwide, each branch is in charge of 2-5 provinces managed by one person. This organization operates professionally and systematically with debt settlement curriculum, customer appraisal and classification curriculum...

For employees, the company has established a system of internal regulations and harsh disciplinary regulations such as fines of 50-100 million VND for breaking contracts; cutting off fingers if violating regulations; and being willing to accept the risk of kidnapping, threatening, and assaulting themselves and their families.

After 4 months of investigation, Thanh Hoa Provincial Police have initiated a case of intentional infliction of injury, illegal detention, and usury in civil transactions. Nine people in the gang led by Nguyen Duc Thanh were prosecuted. Of these, seven have been arrested, while the remaining two are wanted.

Thanh Hoa Provincial Police and the Criminal Police Department are investigating and expanding the case. Any victims should contact the Special Investigation Committee for support.