Taking a tough stance against loan sharking crimes at the end of the year.

The end of the year is a time when people's demand for loans for business and shopping increases. This is also an opportunity for loan sharking crimes to flourish in localities throughout the province. Launching a concentrated campaign to vigorously combat loan sharking crimes before, during, and after the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Snake 2025 is one of the key solutions.

Thanh Hoa City police have arrested a group of individuals involved in a "loan sharking" ring operating in Thanh Hoa City.

Trieu Son is recognized as one of the localities with many complex developments regarding "loan sharking" crimes. The methods of operation are diverse and sophisticated, posing many difficulties in prevention and combating them. However, through professional measures, the Trieu Son District Police have detected, arrested, and prosecuted many cases and individuals involved in "loan sharking" activities. This has created a clear improvement, with "loan sharking" crimes in the area gradually decreasing over the years. While in 2023, the Trieu Son District Police detected, arrested, and prosecuted 12 cases involving 20 individuals, this decreased to only 3 cases with 4 individuals in 2024, contributing to ensuring security and order, and receiving recognition and high praise from the people.

It is known that the fight against "loan sharking" in the province has been decisively directed by the Director and Head of the Provincial Police Investigation Agency. Following this directive, the police force throughout the province has adopted the motto "target borrowers to crack down," and "prevent early and from afar, preventing loan sharking from collapsing." Through professional methods, in 2023, the police force discovered, arrested, and prosecuted 183 cases/243 defendants with illegal profits exceeding 110 billion VND; in 2024, this decreased to 112 cases/132 defendants, with illegal profits of approximately over 50 billion VND. A prime example is the Thanh Hoa City Police, which recently arrested 13 individuals involved in a "loan sharking" ring. Expanding the investigation, they arrested four more individuals in the same ring.

Among the 17 arrested individuals, 15 reside in Thanh Hoa City and 2 in Quang Xuong District. Most of them have prior criminal records. Their methods were sophisticated, involving traditional lending and disguised schemes like "donations" or "fundraising." However, during questioning, the suspects confessed that from June 2024 until their arrest (November 14, 2024), they had organized loans for numerous people in Thanh Hoa City at exorbitant interest rates ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 VND per million VND per day (equivalent to 100-600%), earning over 1 billion VND in illicit profits.

While significant results have been achieved in combating loan sharking, eradicating it completely remains a difficult task. The demand for quick, urgent loans remains very high, especially during the end of the year and the Lunar New Year holiday. Meanwhile, accessing loans from legitimate credit institutions is still challenging. Furthermore, the high interest rates and substantial income generated by lending make it difficult for perpetrators to abandon the practice, leading them to adopt more sophisticated methods to evade law enforcement.

To effectively prevent this type of crime, according to the Provincial Police, the solutions to be focused on in the coming time are: Mobilizing the entire political system to promote propaganda and encourage people to report crimes and violations related to "loan sharking". Linking the prevention and fight against crimes and violations of the law related to "loan sharking" with the fight against social evils, organized gambling rings, and drug crimes. Creating conditions for people to access capital from the banking system with quick and convenient services. The registration and issuance of certificates for pawnshops, debt collection businesses, and businesses converting from pawnshops to financial services businesses need to be more strictly controlled...

To eliminate the breeding ground for loan sharking, the professional departments and police forces of districts, towns, and cities continue to comprehensively implement the plans issued by the Provincial Police Department regarding the prevention and control of crimes and violations of the law related to loan sharking activities. In particular, the Provincial Police Department has just issued a plan to launch a high-intensity campaign to combat and suppress crime during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday in 2025, including crimes related to loan sharking. Accordingly, this high-intensity campaign will take place throughout the province and will last for two months, starting on December 15th.

Text and photos: Minh Ly

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/manh-tay-voi-toi-pham-tin-dung-den-dip-cuoi-nam-232763.htm