For many years, the model of lending money through applications (apps) has flourished under the name of legal financial support organizations. But in reality, these are loan shark organizations with exorbitant interest rates and terrorist debt collection methods.
Some victims even resort to suicide to free themselves. This reality prompted me to go on a journey to infiltrate the “den” of lending apps.
A week of infiltrating a 'den' of lending via app, heart-stopping scenes of scaring debtors
Into the "tiger's den"
In early February 2023, after more than a week of gathering victims who were being "terrorized" by lending apps, I decided to go into the den, even though two trusted brothers (a police officer and a lawyer) had tried to dissuade me because: "Even if your face was smeared with ashes and chaff, you still wouldn't be able to look like a debt collector. And the lenders are all mafia, so take less risks."
Recruitment session at Oncredit Company.
The first thing to do, indispensable for the journey to become a debt collector is to prepare a resume. Through tricks, I have a new name, with a resume that could not be more reasonable: 20 years old, finished high school, used to work as a debt collector for some lending apps and currently unemployed.
Not excluding the possibility that if discovered, I would be traced through the photo on my profile, and then shamed everywhere, I had to "make" myself an ID photo that "at first glance looks like me, but on closer inspection it's not me".
After purchasing a new phone number, with social media accounts corresponding to the new identity, I called Oncredit Financial Investment Consulting Company Limited (Oncredit Company) to request an interview appointment.
“Where did you get the recruitment information?” was the first thing the person on the other end of the line said to me. Of course, I had prepared an answer: “Dung, G3 introduced”. Actually, I didn’t know who Dung was, I only knew that the Oncredit app was operating with 4 levels G1-G4. And with hundreds of employees, there must be someone named Dung.
The person on the other end of the line seemed to believe me. He asked me to send my resume via Zalo for review. After reviewing the resume, he asked me to come to the company the next morning for a face-to-face interview.
Surprised to be scheduled for an interview so quickly, as soon as I hung up, I immediately rushed to the hair salon to “buy” myself a new hairstyle, suitable for the image of an uneducated, unemployed young man. To be more sure, I applied to my face a medicinal wine that women often use to regenerate the skin. For about 10 days from the time of application, the skin on my face will always be in a state of swelling, redness, and peeling.
The next morning, with bright yellow hair, a red and swollen face and torn jeans, I went to the Oncredit Company headquarters on the 8th floor, Cantavil Premier building (Song Hanh street, An Phu ward, Thu Duc city, Ho Chi Minh city) for an interview as scheduled.
The first person to greet me was a young man named T., about 30 years old. T. generously gave me a 3-page application form and asked me to fill it all out.
I was surprised by the declaration of a debt collector earning less than 5 million VND/month: Parents' full names, parents' phone numbers, parents' current residence; former boss's full name, former boss's phone number; former co-workers' full names, former co-workers' phone numbers...
Being put in a difficult position, if I “fill in randomly”, in case the references do not match, it will be a big problem, I decided to take a risk and answer: “I have lived with my grandmother since I was little, but she passed away 5 years ago”. T. continued to ask: “What about my parents?”, at this time I lowered my head and shook my head slightly. This trick helped me gain T.’s sympathy, he allowed me to “fill in randomly” to finish the procedure.
When T. left, a young man of about 32 years old with a fierce face came to check my debt collection ability. To this guy, I used a "market" tone to answer. Satisfied with my "bloodthirsty" and "professional" performance, he marked my file in box G3.
In the final interview, the company director personally “probed” the person. Even though I had expressed my wish to wear a mask because my face was red and swollen from an allergic reaction, the director insisted that I take it off: “ What’s the big deal about allergies? We’ll see each other sooner or later.” Only when I took off my mask did this person continue to speak.
During the interview, Mr. Cang kept his eyes on me, as if to make sure that no “suspicious” person could enter the company. In order not to arouse suspicion, I nodded to everything Mr. Cang said. Only on the issue of salary, I said I wanted a better income. No “suspicious” person would bargain with the director over salary, and he agreed.
And so, I became a debt collector for Oncredit.
Inside the "lair" of Oncredit Company.
“Are you a journalist?”
Before going to work, I informed the editorial office and my relatives that for the next 2 weeks, please only contact me outside of office hours. Because during office hours, I am busy playing a role, all devices connected to me will be temporarily locked.
On my first day at work, still acting like a brash, insolent person, I arrived at the company at exactly 8am. In character, I reminded myself that I was just a 20-year-old young man, a bit naive but good at "hunting down" debtors.
I took the initiative to find a seat out of sight, but immediately the manager pulled me to the center: “What are you sitting there for? Sit here so it’s easier to instruct you.” And so, next to me was the level 1 manager with a frowning face, in front were two level 2 managers, and above were two surveillance cameras always pointed straight at me. My every move was monitored.
Realizing that the situation was not good, I decided to obediently work as an apprentice for the first 3 days. During these 3 days, I was literally a new employee who always said yes, enthusiastically praised or praised every time I heard my colleagues calling to curse and threaten debtors.
Here, an unwritten rule is that employees are not allowed to film or take pictures while working, and absolutely not to take screenshots of the computer screen and send them anywhere. Even though I knew that, but on the pretext that I was a new employee and had difficulty remembering, I once dared to ask my instructor to let me use my phone to record the call and save the information on the computer.
Laptop is always ready.
After less than 15 seconds of filming, the manager stood behind me and shouted: “Why film? You will remember after a few days. Open the photo album on your phone and delete everything you just filmed.” Luckily for me, the photo album only had a few random photos that I had uploaded, anticipating a check like the one I was having. I deleted the video , and the manager didn’t say anything.
In the following days, seeing that the situation was less tense, I planned to use a recording device to secretly film. One time, while using the recording pen while pretending to take notes, I was shocked when the employee next to me asked to borrow the pen. Luckily, this person was only 18 years old, and had only started working half a month before me, so when he held the pen, he did not notice anything unusual.
Three people away from me sat a G4 employee named H. Although she was a girl, H. was called “the demon lady” by everyone in the company. Except for the tough men, H.’s debt collection calls scared everyone. As for me, I was excited because I had found a target to approach.
During lunch break, I approached H. by inviting him to eat. Although H. refused because he had brought lunch, this method helped me to approach H. more or less. During the afternoon working hours, H. proactively asked the manager to let me sit next to him to show him the work. With the request of a capable person like H., the manager had no reason to refuse.
H. honestly shared with me: “No matter how gentle you are, when you pick up the phone you have to be fierce. You have to curse and threaten them to pay the debt, and if the threats don’t scare you, then do it for real. Post pictures of them, their wife and children online…”
While nodding along to the “senior’s” messages, the employee sitting next to me had noticed our conversation. She glanced at me and asked half-jokingly, “Are you a journalist? Did you come here to get information to write an article?” As soon as she finished speaking, she turned around and shook the manager’s shoulder: “Sir, he’s a journalist who came here to get bad news about the company.”
That moment made me breathless, my limbs cold, sweat pouring down the back of my neck.
Foreign "investors" are always present at the company.
After 3 seconds of hesitation, I risked laughing: “Me, really cool! Ms. H., do I look like a journalist?”. “You’re crazy! Get back to work!”, H. yelled at us, as if she had just heard a completely ridiculous story. I was relieved, but the manager started to examine me with the same eyes as on my first days at work.
Realizing that I couldn’t “hit and run quickly”, I went back to being a good employee, working hard to “push” the debtors. At this time, I still had to “borrow” the accounts of some former employees.
A few days later, when I was given a separate account on the company's debt collection application, I started to memorize it. From these memos, combined with the manager's login information that I had obtained after many days of observation, I was able to penetrate the company's management system.
During more than 10 days working as a debt collector at Oncredit, I had many sleepless nights because I was afraid of being “eliminated” as some of my colleagues threatened: “When it comes to group interests, the interests are too great, then my life is nothing to those mafia. Get out, use as much information as you have!”
However, despite being scared, because of my promise to "try my best" to the victims who were "living half-dead" because of being trapped in a lending app, I went all the way.
At the end of March 2023, VTC News published a series of investigative articles about the terrorist-style loan and debt collection app Oncredit, attracting special attention from readers. After a series of investigative reports by VTC News, Ho Chi Minh City authorities inspected Oncredit Company, and this business was forced to stop debt collection activities.
Until now, every time I start a new topic, I tell myself, “Okay, just this once!” However, passion is something that is hard to give up.
After a series of investigative reports by VTC News, Ho Chi Minh City authorities dispatched dozens of police officers to inspect Oncredit Company.
Regarding the threatening and terrorizing calls and messages to customers, the company representative said that the company's policy is always to "be friendly, polite and respectful to borrowers". However, "a few employees did not comply, so it is not the company's fault".
Checking the business license, the authorities discovered that the business line that Oncredit Company registered with the Department of Planning and Investment of Ho Chi Minh City did not have any items related to credit or debt collection. Therefore, this business was forced to stop debt collection activities.
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