'Family destruction' because of online savings and credit association

Loan shark to play the ward

For many days now, a tense atmosphere has enveloped the small house in the suburbs of Vinh City of Ms. Huyen (30 years old), one of the victims of the online hui collapse that shocked Vinh City recently. Huyen asked to keep her real name anonymous because she was afraid that her friends, relatives, especially her parents-in-law, would know the story.

“Only my husband knows now, but the family is about to fall apart. If my parents-in-law and other relatives find out, I will have no way to live,” Huyen said, sobbing.

Huyền works in online sales and got married 3 years ago. A year ago, because they were impatient because they had been married for a long time but still had no children, Huyền and her husband went to the doctor and were advised to undergo artificial insemination at a high cost. However, despite borrowing more than 200 million VND to pay, the result was a failure. The young couple has had to bear more debt since then. “After that, because of the pressure of debt, I hid from my husband and joined the hui. It was all because of greed,” Huyền said regretfully, adding that both husband and wife have unstable incomes and still have to rent a house to live in. At the beginning of this year, Huyền and her husband were happy to know that she was pregnant naturally.

Hien's clothing shop has been closed for half a month now, but many regulars still wait in front of the store in the hope of meeting the owner to ask for money. Photo: TH

To have money to pay off her debt, because of greed for interest, Huyen participated in 3 lottery games at the same time, all owned by Ms. Vo Thi Thu Hien. In mid-November 2021, she had to give birth before full term, so Huyen decided to compete to get all the money from the 3 lottery games she was participating in. To have money to compete, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, both husband and wife lost their jobs, and she was on maternity leave, so Ms. Huyen took the risk of borrowing high interest from "black credit" organizations. At the auction held on November 16, 2021, Ms. Huyen won all 3 lottery games, with a total amount of money received of nearly 300 million VND.

“I borrowed money from a loan shark and scheduled the repayment date on November 19. While the auction was held on November 16, there were still 3 days left, so I felt secure. But who would have thought that after the auction was won, Mrs. Hien still hesitated to pay. After begging and kneeling down to beg, Mrs. Hien was only able to transfer 40 million. There was still more than 250 million VND left,” Huyen said, adding that she repeatedly went to her house and called her, but Mrs. Hien found every way to delay and evade. Sometimes she blamed the bank for not being able to transfer, sometimes she asked Huyen not to accept the cash, but instead invited her to join other auctions to make up for the amount received. When the appointment date of November 19 came and Huyen still had not paid the debt, a group of brazen young men came to her house to demand payment. At this time, Huyen had to confess to her husband. Also that evening, Vo Thi Thu Hien declared bankruptcy, no longer able to pay, causing a stir in the business community in Vinh City.

“When I received the news, I was so dizzy that I almost fainted,” Huyen said, but instead of her husband sharing his feelings, she received a beating from him. The man attacked and punched his wife when he learned that she had borrowed money at high interest rates and was coming to her house to collect the debt. Not only was Huyen beaten, but her husband also kicked her out of the house. At that time, she had just given birth to a child 15 days ago.

“It’s okay to be beaten when I’m wrong. I don’t blame my husband at all,” Huyen said, adding that during the days her husband kicked her out of the house, she had to make up all sorts of excuses to ask for food and lodging from friends and relatives for a day each. Because she didn’t want them to know her story. There were nights when she missed her child, Huyen groped her way home. But when she got close to her house, she discovered that the debt collectors were still stationed 24/7 in front of the gate, so Huyen had to run away. Huyen also went to the house of the landlady of Vo Thi Thu Hien ward many times, kneeling in front of Ms. Hien’s apartment for many nights to beg this person to pay the money, but all she received was silence.

After many days of wandering, she suffered from postpartum hemorrhage and had to be hospitalized. After treatment, she had to kneel down and apologize, and her husband took pity on her and forgave her and allowed her to return home to raise the child. However, the family atmosphere is still very tense. Neither husband nor wife has said a word to each other. “I am truly remorseful. This is probably the worst time of my life. My husband beat me and kicked me out of the house. I was afraid of creditors coming after me when I went out, and I kept receiving threats from debt collectors on my phone. The pressure was too terrible,” Huyen sobbed.

Hien presented himself at Vinh City Police. Photo: TH

Swallow the bitter pill

In the same situation as Ms. Huyen, Ms. Hoa (35 years old, Vinh City) has also had to live in humiliation since the hui went bankrupt nearly half a month ago. Ms. Hoa is also a businesswoman and admitted that she joined the hui partly because of the quick capital turnover but mainly because of greed for high interest rates. "Now I really feel it. It was all because of greed for a little interest rate," said the woman who just filed a complaint against hui owner Vo Thi Thu Hien for embezzling more than 400 million VND.

Ms. Hoa said that after receiving the news of the ward's collapse, she still tried to hide it from her family, husband and children. However, after many sleepless nights, a few days ago she decided to confess to her husband. "That was all the money the couple had saved for many years," Ms. Hoa said. Immediately after receiving the bad news from his wife, Ms. Hoa's husband flew into a rage. He even wrote a divorce petition because he said he "could not accept a wife who was both greedy and ignorant."

“My husband doesn’t beat me. But his scolding makes me feel more humiliated and hurt than being beaten. Since then, every time we eat, he brings this up. I can’t stand it anymore,” Hoa sobbed.

2 victims talk to Nghe An Newspaper reporter. Photo: TH

According to the reporter's investigation, the online hui ring run by Ms. Vo Thi Thu Hien (35 years old, resident of Ha Huy Tap ward) has nearly 300 members. Up to now, more than 100 people have confirmed that Ms. Hien owes the ward money with a total amount of about 36 billion VND. Most of the victims are women, hiding from their husbands to play the ward because of greed for interest. Talking to the reporter, many people said that they still do not dare to confess to their families.

“I don’t know how to talk to my husband anymore. Because it’s such a large amount of money, I don’t know if he will forgive me or not,” said Loan (32 years old, living in Do Luong district). Until now, Loan has not filed a complaint against Hien because she is afraid that many people will find out and she is still hoping that the hui owner will return the money.

Loan said that her eldest daughter is 8 years old this year but has a heart disease and is deaf and mute since birth. The couple saved 500 million VND, planning to take their daughter to Hanoi for surgery at the end of this year. The day they received the news that the ward was bankrupt and Hien texted to say that she could no longer pay, Loan was shocked. “This is the biggest lesson of my life,” Loan said.

Due to the large amount of money, the police instructed ward members to report it.

In addition to the traditional form of playing hui, currently, based on the information technology platform, just need a transaction account, bank account, players can easily participate in playing hui online, with different levels of payment and receiving period to have corresponding interest rates. This form is attracting quite a lot of participants, mainly office workers, online traders.

Accordingly, most of the members participating in the hui are members who operate together on a forum or a group via the internet, their circumstances and family addresses are almost only verified by trust, all forms of payment transactions are made via bank transfer. Recently, the variations of this form have led to many hui failures and frauds, so the risk of insecurity from playing the hui is very high.