4 days ago
Tourist police bust 3 behind Vietnamese loan ring
The Tourist Police Bureau has arrested three Vietnamese nationals for operating an illegal loan shark scheme in Bangkok, charging fellow Vietnamese borrowers interest rates as high as 45%.
The suspects -- Ngo Van Long, 25; Hoang Trung Tran, 21; and Dang Van Ngan, 19 -- were apprehended on Thursday at a residence in Lat Krabang district.
Acting on a tip-off, officers secured a search warrant from the Min Buri Criminal Court and raided the property.
During the raid, Mr Ngo, who claimed to be the tenant, was found upstairs with the two other suspects, working on computers.
Authorities discovered that the trio was running an illegal lending business that specifically targeted Vietnamese nationals in Thailand who lacked work permits and therefore had limited access to legal credit.
According to the investigation, the suspects acted as administrators of the loan operation. They promoted their services via Facebook, collected personal information from borrowers, and installed iCloud accounts on the victims' iPhones.
These accounts enabled the suspects to control the devices remotely. If a borrower failed to repay, the phone could be locked as a means of coercion. Police noted that such loan operations are considered serious criminal offences in Vietnam.
As a result, some Vietnamese lenders attempt to avoid prosecution by relocating their activities to Thailand -- despite the fact that such operations are also illegal under Thai law.
Financial records indicated that the group had handled more than 2.2 billion Vietnamese dong (approximately 2.75 million baht) in loan transactions, with repayments transferred to a bank account in Vietnam.
Further investigation revealed that Mr Ngo had been working in Thailand for two months, earning a monthly salary of 20,000 baht. Mr Hoang and Mr Dang, who were recruited by Mr Ngo, had been involved in the operation for just over a month, each earning between 10,000 and 20,000 baht per month. All three suspects are currently being held at Romklao Police Station.
