Three men working for Hưng Thịnh debt collecting service joint stock company in HCM City were recently assaulted by a debtor when they paid him a visit at his house. Photo Soha.vn

Loan sharks have a reputation for violence, but the tables got turned on some debt collectors recently.

Three men working for Hưng Thịnh debt collecting service joint stock company in HCM City were recently assaulted by a debtor when they paid him a visit at his house.

The borrower Nguyễn Văn Lân, living in Quảng Ninh City, Đông Triều Township, had borrowed VNĐ400 million (US$17,258) at a high interest rate and resorted to violence when the collectors showed up and asked for what he owed.

On a clip posted on social network last week, images of three injured men kneeling before another man went viral, showing that the loan borrower used a cudgel to hit debt collectors.

On April 7, the locality's police summoned both Lân and his son, and some related people, to investigate the assault, a police leader said.

Police determined that Hưng Thịnh debt collecting service joint stock company’s three employees were licensed to collect the cash. 

According to police, on April 6, five people of Hưng Thịnh company came to Đông Triều Township police station to present a letter of introduction and notice on debt collection before they went to Lân's house.

Lawyer Hoàng Văn Hướng from Hà Nội Bar Association told zing.vn that debt collection was a legal job however, “debt collection must comply with the provisions of the law, not arbitrarily go to loan borrower's house to take money”.

The lawyer thought there were two possible outcomes of this case.

If the debt collectors violated the law by threatening, beating or destroying property, the debtor has the right to resist and inform police.

In the second situation, if the debtor assaulted them unprovoked, he committed a criminal offence.