On December 5th, the Investigation Police Agency of Bac Giang City initiated prosecution against 13 individuals for the crime of extortion.
Prior to this, the Bac Giang Provincial Police, in collaboration with professional units from the Ministry of Public Security and the Quang Ngai Provincial Police, conducted an administrative inspection at an office on the 4th floor of No. 265, Nguyen Cong Phuong Street, Nghia Lo Ward, Quang Ngai City.
The police identified Le Van Trieu (born in 1992, residing in Nghia Ky commune, Tu Nghia town, Quang Ngai city) as the mastermind behind a group of 18 other female subjects from Quang Ngai province, who exhibited signs of “Slander” and “Extortion” crimes.
During an emergency search at Trieu’s workplace, the police confiscated 44 mobile phones of various models, 22 computer sets, and numerous objects, documents, and data related to the case.
Figure 1: Le Van Trieu, the mastermind
Initial investigations by the Investigation Police Agency of Bac Giang City revealed that Le Van Trieu had formed two groups to gather information about customers who had debts with financial institutions. Subsequently, the group members would contact, send threatening messages, slander, and manipulate sensitive images of customers to demand debt repayment, contrary to the regulations of banks and financial organizations. If the customers failed to settle their debts, the group would locate their workplaces and exert pressure on their colleagues, leaders, or family members to coerce debt payment.
Le Van Trieu hired Nguyen Thi My Duyen (born in 1998) and Le Thi Thuy (born in 1990), both residing in Quang Ngai province, to manage and direct the employees. Trieu was responsible for renting the office space, purchasing necessary equipment such as computers, mobile phones, “junk” SIM cards, “impersonation” SIM cards, and obtaining information about the debtors and their related individuals, including leaders, colleagues, and family members.
Figure 2: Other subjects involved in the case
The group then used “junk” SIM cards and “impersonation” SIM cards to create anonymous accounts on Zalo, Telegram, and Facebook. They would make threatening calls, send offensive messages, and manipulate sensitive images, posting them on these social media platforms to pressure and coerce the customers into repaying their debts.
According to the initial findings of the Investigation Police Agency of Bac Giang City, using these tactics, the group forced customers to repay debts ranging from 300 to 400 million VND to banks. The subjects received 21% of the total amount as their cut.
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