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| Loan shark leaflet on an electricity pole in southern Bình Thuận Province. – Photo news.zing.vn |
Viet Nam News
BÌNH THUẬN — Police in southern Bình Thuận Province have set up a special police unit to crack down on illegal loan sharks, which have reportedly been increasing their activities with many sophisticated tricks that ensnare locals in never-ending debt traps.
Nguyễn Ngọc Hai, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the committee has asked the city, districts and communes to strengthen prevention and fight usury interest crime as proposed by the province’s police force.
Previously, the provincial police had sent documents to the committee to warn about loan sharks in the province.
Loan shark gangs, which were reportedly from the northern region, usually distributed leaflets on loans with no mortgage or stuck them on the wall or power poles in public areas. Borrowers were only required to have their ID or household registration certificates copy to get a loan.
Many loan contracts were signed with the allowed interest rates, but these gangs used tricks to extend the borrowing time to get more profit.
These gangs also offered those who needed money loans with interest rates of up to 30 per cent. Those who could not pay would be threatened, assaulted, kidnapped and forced to sell their houses or assets to pay debts.
To proactively prevent and strictly handle this type of crime, the provincial police have asked the provincial People’s Committee to inform local people about the tricks of loan shark groups.
Local police will intensify their investigation of such cases. — VNS
