Hundreds of billions of dong in defaults on illegal loans shock rural areas of Nghe An province.

However, a few days ago, those who had raised the funds unexpectedly declared bankruptcy, leaving hundreds of people who had invested their money in dire straits.

The countryside is bustling with activity.

On the evening of October 18th, hundreds of people gathered in front of the house of Ms. Bui Thi Nhung (56 years old, Cong Hoa village, Quynh Long commune) to pressure her into paying the money. This woman is one of the key figures involved in the case.loan sharkingThey raised capital from hundreds of people but then unexpectedly declared bankruptcy.

To get their money back, people brought loudspeakers to the front gate of the house, playing music and shouting loudly… However, the iron gate of this woman's house remained tightly closed.

Feeling helpless, the villagers continued to flock to the house of another key figure, Tran Thi Hoan (57 years old, Minh Thanh hamlet, Quynh Long commune, Quynh Luu district). Local authorities had to deploy law enforcement to ensure security and order and prevent clashes.

According to our investigation, this fundraising scheme was led by a group of people who are related to each other. They raised hundreds of billions of dong from the public.

Mr. Bui Ham (61 years old, from Quynh Long commune) said that in recent days, he and his wife have been losing sleep and appetite due to regret over the money they lost. Not only did he pour all his savings into the illegal lending scheme, but Mr. Ham also borrowed money from outside sources to invest in it and profit from the interest rate difference.

Mr. Ham recounted that he and his wife used to do business in the South. “A few years ago, land prices there increased, so I sold everything and made a considerable amount of money, then moved back to my hometown to live,” Mr. Ham said, adding that upon returning home, he saw many people depositing money to earn interest, so he followed suit. In early 2023, he initially deposited 500 million VND to Ms. Tran Thi Hoan as a trial, with an interest rate of 1.5% per month. Seeing that she paid interest regularly, he and his wife trusted her and gradually deposited larger sums. Besides Ms. Hoan, Mr. Ham also deposited money with Ms. Bui Thi Nhung and Ms. Tran Thi Vin (47 years old, Minh Thanh village, Quynh Long commune), with similar interest rates. To date, the total amount of money Mr. Ham's family has deposited with these three sources has reached over 9 billion VND. With this amount, Mr. Ham used to receive approximately 135 million VND in interest each month.

“Actually, the interest rates are really high, higher than depositing at a bank. It’s also very convenient for withdrawing and depositing, with no complicated procedures, so it’s attractive. Besides, these people create a perfect facade to make us trust them. They live very successful lives, frequently distributing free porridge to the needy, and are constantly receiving accolades. We thought they needed capital to invest in real estate, but it turned out to be a scam,” Mr. Ham said with resentment.

A few days ago, villagers started whispering about a loan sharking ring going bankrupt, and that's when Mr. Ham learned about it. When he contacted the three people he had sent money to, he was told they were "no longer able to pay." Since then, Mr. Ham has been in a state of anxiety, because among the 9 billion dong, there was money from his children and his wife, as well as money he had borrowed. "I just bought a car for over 600 million dong, but yesterday I had to sell it for 480 million dong to pay them back. All my capital was invested in that," Mr. Ham said.

Hundreds of victims

This loan sharking ring not only targeted well-off families like Mr. Ham's, but also those in difficult circumstances. Mrs. Bui Thi Tron (74 years old) was one of them. Her husband passed away not long ago, leaving her to raise her mentally ill son alone. A few years ago, she had to sell a plot of land to pay off debts. After settling her expenses, she had 150 million dong left over. Like her neighbors, she gave all the money to Mrs. Tran Thi Hoan to earn interest, which helped support her and her son's monthly living expenses.

“Every month, I received 2.1 million dong in interest to buy rice and food for my two children and me. Now that I'm past retirement age and don't receive any government assistance, I'm relying solely on that money. I never imagined things would turn out this way,” Mrs. Trọn recounted, adding that when the loan sharks declared bankruptcy, she went to Mrs. Hoan's house crying and begging her to take pity on her as a long-time neighbor and write a promissory note promising to repay the money, but she refused.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Moi (70 years old, from Quynh Thuan commune) said that her family works in salt production, and after many years of saving, they deposited 90 million VND into this illegal lending scheme. In addition, her daughter and son-in-law also accumulated over 1 billion VND, which they deposited into the scheme while waiting to build a house, hoping to earn some interest. Since hearing that the illegal lending ring had collapsed, she has lost all interest in her salt fields and spends her days loitering outside the homes of those who borrowed money, but she is not even allowed to speak to them.

Another victim, Mr. Tran Van Dung (56 years old), believes that this illegal lending ring shows signs of colluding to commit fraud. “The people who mobilized funds from the public were all sisters or cousins. Before declaring bankruptcy, they frantically called and visited many households to solicit money. They accepted any amount. Even women who earned just a few tens of thousands of dong a day collecting clams and mussels weren't spared. It's truly heartless,” Mr. Dung said angrily.

According to our investigation, it's not just in Quynh Long commune; other sisters of Ms. Tran Thi Hoan who married and moved to live in communes such as Quynh Thach, Son Hai, and Quynh Hong also raised large sums of money from people in these localities. Then, at the same time, they declared bankruptcy, claiming they were no longer able to repay the debts.

Speaking with a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper, Ms. Tran Thi Vin – one of the key figures in the fundraising effort – said that her family used to work in the fishing industry. However, in recent years, fishing has become increasingly difficult, so she and her husband decided to sell their fishing boat and switch to the business of refinancing bank loans. Because the work frequently requires large sums of money, she started accepting deposits from people and paying them interest at a rate of 1.5% to 2% per month. Ms. Vin and Ms. Tran Thi Hoan are cousins.

“Not long ago, Ms. Tran Thi Hoan’s eldest sister, Ms. Tran Thi Hoai (who married and moved to Quynh Thach commune), contacted me and told me to send her money if I had any, and I would earn 3% interest per month. Because we are cousins, I trusted her and sent money from people in the village to her to earn the interest difference,” Ms. Vin recounted, adding that recently another cousin in the family, Bui Quang D. (residing in Ho Chi Minh City), also contacted her to raise capital for “bank loan refinancing services.” D.’s father is the younger brother of Ms. Vin’s mother and Ms. Hoan’s mother, Ms. Hoai…

“Actually, I’m also a victim. Around the beginning of October, Mr. D. called me and said he needed to raise a large sum of money, so I sent him 14 billion VND. D. promised to transfer it all back to me by October 16th at the latest, but on October 15th, people there discovered that he and his wife had died in the café. I rushed there and only then found out that Mr. D. had gone bankrupt,” Ms. Vin recounted, adding that she also has about 13 billion VND deposited with Ms. Tran Thi Hoai (Quynh Thach commune) that she hasn’t been able to get back.

“Including the money I sent to Mr. D. and Ms. Hoai, it's 27 billion VND. I raised all of that money from the villagers, and even if I sold all my assets, it wouldn't be enough to repay them. Ms. Hoai said she's in a worse situation than me, having raised over 100 billion VND to send to Mr. D., so I haven't been able to get my money back from her yet,” Ms. Vin added.

Mr. Tran Van Nguyen, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Long commune, said that the news of the loan sharking ring going bankrupt has shaken the entire commune over the past few days.

“They raised capital very secretly, so it was very difficult for the commune to track them. Initial information indicates that at least hundreds of households in the commune have invested in this illegal lending ring, with an estimated amount of hundreds of billions of dong. This doesn't even include the many other victims in other communes throughout Quynh Luu district. In Quynh Long commune alone, there are at least four ringleaders involved in raising money, all of whom have maintained a facade of success,” Mr. Nguyen said, adding that in recent days, the local authorities have struggled to maintain security and order as people flocked to the homes of the ringleaders.