On February 3, Quang Nam Provincial Police announced that the Security Investigation Agency of the provincial police has just initiated legal proceedings against 47 individuals for their involvement in “usurious borrowing in civil transactions”.
These 47 defendants are part of Phase 2 of the large-scale usurious borrowing case amounting to more than 20,000 billion VND (Vietnamese Dong) investigated and dismantled by the Quang Nam Provincial Police in collaboration with other police units and local authorities in mid-2023.
Prior to that, in July 2023, the Quang Nam Provincial Police collaborated with the professional bureaus of the Ministry of Public Security and other local police agencies to investigate and dismantle the largest online usurious borrowing ring ever operated nationwide.
The Security Investigation Agency has thus initiated legal proceedings against 54 foreign and Vietnamese individuals involved in “usurious borrowing in civil transactions”, “misappropriation of property”, “illegal transportation of goods, currency across borders”, and “money laundering”.
This ring organized loans for more than 1 million people nationwide through a mobile application, with an interest rate of over 2,300% per year. The total amount of loans reached over 20,000 billion VND, illicit gains exceeded 8,000 billion VND, and illicit funds were illegally transferred out of Vietnam in the amount of over 5,000 billion VND.
To conceal their usurious borrowing activities and large illicit gains, the defendants set up dozens of “shell” companies and used thousands of bank accounts to launder and illegally transfer funds across borders.
In addition, the defendants used debt collection methods similar to those of organized crime groups, manipulating photos to create compromising images and putting pressure on borrowers to repay their debts.
