Residents of Quang Hop commune are apprehensive about losing billions of dong due to a failed informal lending scheme. Photo: Tien Dong
Ms. Bui Thi Cuc, residing in Binh Danh village, Quang Hop commune, has been a long-time participant in a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) with Ms. Tuoi. In previous years, Ms. Tuoi paid promptly, but from 2021 to 2023, Ms. Cuc contributed nearly 500 million VND to Ms. Tuoi, yet remains unpaid. Ms. Cuc shared: “I participated in many ROSCA groups with Ms. Tuoi, some with 2 million VND per share, some with 3 million VND per share, and I even contributed for my children, so the monthly contributions amounted to 15-20 million VND. Each month I paid in cash, and Ms. Tuoi recorded it in a ledger. When I stopped participating in the ROSCA but couldn't pay, she gave me a settlement document, but to this day, she hasn't paid me a single penny.”
Similarly, the family of Mr. Le Van Thanh in Linh Hung village is also one of the households with over 400 million VND "stuck" due to participating in a rotating savings scheme in Quang Hop commune. Mr. Le Van Thanh shared: "For a long time, my wife and children paid the savings scheme to Ms. Tuoi via bank transfer. When it was our turn, she would pay us a few dollars in interest each month. However, when the family had an emergency and asked for payment, she kept postponing it, giving excuses to avoid it."
Many participants in the rotating savings scheme are elderly people or those in difficult circumstances, who joined hoping to save money, but now they are worried about losing it. For example, Mrs. Le Thi Hoai and her husband, both over 65 years old, live in Binh Danh village and face many hardships. Her husband works as a security guard earning only 2 million VND per month, and she sells vegetables and eggs to supplement their income. All of her husband's salary was used to pay the scheme, but now the scheme organizer has announced bankruptcy. Mrs. Hoai said: “I used all of my husband's security guard salary to pay the scheme, and the amount paid so far is 87 million VND. When I asked Mrs. Tuoi for the money, she promised to pay in July 2024, but it never came. I went to ask again in March 2025, but there was still no money.”
According to local residents, Ms. Tươi previously worked as a trader at Lý Market in Quảng Hợp commune and had a long history of running rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCA). She also frequently solicited donations and provided support to areas affected by natural disasters and epidemics, thus gaining the trust of many small traders at Lý Market as well as residents in the commune who participated in her ROSCA. The rules stipulated that each participant contributed 2 to 3 million VND per share, and the payment method involved recording points on a slip of paper; the person with the highest score received the money first. Members paid in cash or transferred money to a bank account under Ms. Tươi's name. Initially, she made payments relatively regularly. However, from around 2021, the payments in the ROSCA organized by Ms. Tươi revealed many irregularities and a lack of transparency. When it was their turn to collect the money, Mrs. Tươi would often inform the participants that someone else had already bid higher to receive the money first, but she would not reveal that person's identity.
At the end of the rotating savings scheme, when members requested payment from Ms. Tươi, she cited numerous excuses to delay, evade, and be uncooperative, even displaying a defiant attitude towards those who contributed. Initial verification revealed that the total amount contributed by 53 households in Quảng Hợp commune to the scheme's organizer was over 5.9 billion VND. In 2024, many households in the commune reported the matter to the local authorities and relevant agencies, but it remained unresolved. Outraged, the 53 individuals collectively filed a complaint.
According to Dao Nguyen Dung, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Hop Commune: “Upon receiving the case, we requested that the organization running the rotating savings scheme comply with the law. We also conducted verification and review, and repeatedly summoned Ms. Bui Thi Tuoi, the scheme's organizer, for questioning. Currently, Ms. Tuoi is still residing in the area and shows no signs of fleeing. However, she has yet to repay the savings to the households as promised, causing resentment among the commune's residents. In 2024, the commune police compiled an initial report to forward to the district police, and subsequently to the provincial police once the district police are dissolved.”
According to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Hop commune, the local authorities have assigned the commune's police force to continue monitoring the situation, closely following developments, and preventing any emerging security and order issues in the area.
Regarding this case, Lawyer Vu Van Tra (Son Tra Law Firm, under the Thanh Hoa Provincial Bar Association) stated: The informal lending scheme in Quang Hop commune shows many irregularities, such as: Exploiting the psychology of people participating in lending schemes with the hope of profit, as well as their limited understanding of the law, to lure many acquaintances into participating. Initially, the scheme organizer fulfilled all responsibilities, such as establishing the correct scheme, ensuring enough participants, collecting payments on time, and paying out the full amount of principal and interest to the participants. However, later, when many people arrive to collect their installments, the organizer asks for a postponement or delay in payment, claiming that "another member has already registered to collect their installments," then declares bankruptcy and evades payment... In this case, the organizer also fails to publicly disclose the list of participants and those who collect the installments, lacks transparent documentation and records of the installment scheme, and fails to make payments on time as promised... These actions can essentially be understood as using fraudulent methods to deceive and appropriate the property of others. This behavior has criminal implications as stipulated in Article 174 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017, regarding the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property."
In response to the public's outrage over the failed informal lending scheme in Quang Hop commune, relevant authorities need to promptly investigate, clarify, and resolve the matter definitively, ensuring the legitimate rights of the people and maintaining security and order in the area.
Viet Huong
Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/nhieu-nguoi-dan-to-cao-chu-hui-nbsp-lua-dao-chiem-doat-tai-san-252339.htm
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