Authorities busted an inter-provincial loan sharking ring charging interest rates exceeding 700% per year.

The Criminal Police Department of Thua Thien Hue Provincial Police, in coordination with the Mobile Police Force, various operational teams, and the Nghe An Provincial Police, recently raided and dismantled six usurious lending operations in Thua Thien Hue and Nghe An provinces, arresting numerous individuals involved in usurious lending activities.

Five usurious lending establishments were shut down in Thua Thien Hue province at the following addresses: 174 Dien Bien Phu; 188 Dien Bien Phu; 420 Le Duan; 51 Nguyen Sinh Cung and 01 Ho Dac Di, Hue city.

All of these are branches of Tin Dat General Trading and Service Development Co., Ltd., headquartered at 22 Le Viet Thuat Street, Hung Loc Commune, Vinh City, Nghe An Province. This company is headed by Nguyen Sy Trung, 43 years old, residing in Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City, Nghe An Province.

Nguyen Sy Trung signed the lease agreements and issued power of attorney documents to five individuals, including Nguyen Duy Duong, Nguyen Thi Nhuy, Ha Thi Thu Hien, Vu Duy Duc, and Nguyen Duc Thinh, to manage the operations at the five aforementioned establishments.

These five individuals were responsible for recruiting and hiring employees to work at the facilities they managed. Each facility had 4-6 employees responsible for direct transactions, debt collection, and management. The predecessor of Tin Dat Company was Tan Tin Dat Company, established in August 2016, with business locations in many provinces and cities, including Thua Thien Hue. It registered to conduct business in various sectors such as car sales, car rental, and pawnbroking, but in reality, it established numerous branches and facilities to operate illegal lending activities with exorbitant interest rates.

Around May 2019, the branches and establishments of Tan Tin Dat Company in Thua Thien Hue province unexpectedly announced their dissolution simultaneously, and subsequently became business locations of another company, Tin Dat General Development Co., Ltd. Colonel Pham Van Toan, Head of the Criminal Police Department of Thua Thien Hue Provincial Police, stated: Although registered under different names, these two companies are essentially one and the same. The individuals hired to manage the establishments in Hue regularly communicated, exchanged information, and conducted financial transactions with Nguyen Sy Dung, 38 years old, residing in Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city, who is the director of Tan Tin Dat Company.

The modus operandi of this group is to require borrowers to provide their registered cars or motorcycles, along with their identity cards, and complete the procedures for purchasing these assets. They then use these assets as collateral for a lease agreement with the borrower. The group determines the value of the asset based on the borrower's desired loan amount.

For individuals without assets but borrowing small amounts, the loan procedures were still carried out. The lending activities, lending methods, loan management, and debt collection methods were all conducted using software, which was monitored and managed by Nguyen Sy Dung. The interest rates charged by the lenders ranged from 109.5% per year to 182.5%, and in some cases even exceeded 700% per year.

According to initial investigations, in Thua Thien Hue province alone, from August 2016 to the present, the suspects have provided loans to 1,420 people with nearly 21,000 loan applications, totaling over 21.2 billion VND; the amount of illicit profit earned is over 4.6 billion VND.

Currently, the Criminal Investigation Agency of Thua Thien Hue Provincial Police has arrested the perpetrators and temporarily seized relevant documents and evidence related to usurious lending activities to continue the investigation and strictly handle the case according to the law.