On February 2nd, the HCM City Police Department’s Criminal Police (PC02) initiated a prosecution and temporary detention of Dang Ngoc Ngai (61 years old, residing in Tan Phu district) and 3 others for the offense of “Operating an illegal lending business with high interest” in civil transactions.
Suspect Ngai (2nd from left) and accomplices at the police station. Photo: Provided by the police.
According to the initial investigation, Ngai led a lending ring with interest rates of up to 180% per year, illicitly profiting billions of dong. To legitimize the interest amount of 1-2 billion dong, Ngai’s group created fake notarized contracts and forced borrowers to transfer real estate.
While conducting local area surveys, PC02 also discovered a “black credit” group, in which Pham Minh Chau (36 years old, residing in Go Vap district, bank employee) colluded with the high-interest lending group to offer loans with high interest rates.
Suspects Chau and Khanh at the police station. Photo: Provided by the police.
Chau colluded with the high-interest lending group operating outside of society and lent money to others with interest rates up to 180% per year to repay their bank loan contracts. Initially, the police determined that Chau illicitly profited over 2 billion dong in a short period of time.
Regarding this type of crime, PC02 also dismantled a “black credit” group led by Ton Nu Kim Khanh (45 years old, residing in district 10) that engaged in high-interest lending.
The police determined that Khanh formed connections with some bank employees in HCM City to offer loans with an interest rate of 188% per year to many borrowers. In just 5 months, Khanh and her accomplices lent money with high interest rates and illicitly profited 4.7 billion dong.
The case is currently being investigated and processed by the police.
Dismantling 24 “black credit” groups
During a press conference on the economic and social situation in HCM City on the afternoon of January 18th, Major Le Manh Ha – Deputy Head of the Advisory Department of the HCM City Police Department, stated that after one month of initiating operations to combat and suppress crimes, ensuring security and order during the 2024 Lunar New Year, HCM City Police have dismantled 24 “black credit” groups involving 64 individuals.
According to Major Ha, the individuals involved in “black credit” activities used old tactics such as making threatening phone calls, spreading dirt, assembling pictures, distributing flyers at workplaces… to “terrorize” borrowers, their relatives, and force them to repay money.
In a typical case, the Criminal Police Department uncovered a robbery and high-interest lending operation with interest rates of up to 360% per year to illicitly profit billions of dong. When borrowers failed to repay the money, the suspects went to their homes, used firearms as tools for intimidation, assaulted them to seize their assets, and coerced them to write debt acknowledgments.
HCM City Police will continue to coordinate with agencies, departments, local authorities to strengthen propaganda work, collaborate with the media to enhance diverse and comprehensive propaganda methods, in order to raise public awareness, prevent criminal offenses; enhance the struggle against crimes related to “black credit” activities in cyberspace, and proactively detect, investigate, and handle them…
