Illegal loan application run by Chinese staff charging up to 20% interest per week withdrawn by immigration police

The immigration office was called upon to act when complaints were filed by clients who were stiffened by the illegal and expensive pawnshop who employed up to 46 Thai locals to do their collections and street work. across Bangkok as foreigners occupied the hub of the online lending operation. in the center of the capital.
Immigration bureau chief Lt. Gen. Sompong Chingduang led a raid on his officers to quell the nerve center of an illegal money lending racket in Bangkok this week, made up of Chinese nationals.
Immigration Bureau Police Chief Lt. Gen. Sompong Chingduang raided a house serving as an office in Bangkok’s Wang Thonglang neighborhood this week to exploit a money-lending app. illegal charging local people exorbitant interest levels, well above the kingdom’s legal limit of 15%.
The police chief gave details to the press on the scene where officers from the Immigration Bureau arrested five Chinese nationals and a Singaporean who were operating the headquarters of a mobile app called “Speedwallet” which granted loans in the range of 5,000 to 20,000 at a time while charging clients interest rates of 12 to 15% per week for the privilege.
46 Thai locals paid a salary of 12,000 per month to collect debts owed to the money lending service
Police Lieutenant General Sompong explained that the app also employed up to 46 Thai residents who acted as representatives and debt collectors for the company.
They received monthly salaries of 12,000 per month.
“The suspects allegedly opened a mobile app called ‘Speedwallet’, which offered loans of 5,000-20,000 per customer and charged interest rates of 12-15% per week, exceeding the legal limit of 15% per year.” , he explained. .
Complaints from aggrieved customers
The senior police official said his police office had received complaints from clients of the service, almost all of whom were victims of the illegal dress.
“Police had received complaints from several app customers, so we started looking for the owner. Further investigation also showed that they had previously run eight applications before Speedwallet and had over 5,000 customers.
Nerve center located at Wang Thonglang in central Bangkok and a rented house
Working on the information received from customers, the police eventually traced the operation headquarters to the rented house in Soi 3 Town in Wang Thonglang.
It is understood that the app had used the location as their headquarters for about a month before the police attacked them this week.
“The company reportedly hired several Thai employees as debt collectors, with a salary of 12,000 yen per month,” he said. “One of the victims reportedly said the gang only gave them 2,900 on a 5,000 loan deal and asked for their cell phone number and other personal data,” he said. “Anyone who didn’t pay off their debt would be hassled with phone calls until they paid.”
The scale of informal loans is large but not properly quantified. Public household debt reaches 90% of GDP
The extent of the informal or illegal debt problem in Thailand has not been properly quantified but even official household debt figures are a cause for concern to the Bank of Thailand and economists in the kingdom.
It is also important to note that some informal loans in Thailand, especially home loans, are perfectly legal and often overseen by government agencies.
At the end of September 2020, the Thai household debt figure stood at 13.8 trillion yen, or 87% of the country’s GDP, and is certainly expected to reach the 90% forecast by the end of the year.
Horrible impact of informal lending on Thais
While the informal sector is unknown, what we do know is horrible. Many teachers, professionals as well as military and police officers have massive unpaid debts to loan sharks.
Army Lieutenant in Buriram, Million Yen Christmas Eve Armed Bank Robbery
On Christmas Eve 2018, Army Lt. Jaruphum Panator robbed a bank in Buriram province. He got away, only briefly, with 1 million yen, part of which was used to pay off unpaid debts to loan sharks.
Bangkok businessman murdered his family
By far the most poignant story dates back to April 2019, when a 46-year-old businessman, once hardworking and respected in Bangkok’s Khlong Sam Wa district, killed his 25-year-old wife and two daughters in a family. suicide by cutting their throats and hers.
The man, identified by police as Natthasak Khamkhern, survived, leaving local officers to investigate a nightmare.
Debt means death as mad Thai man slaughters loving wife and children
The root of the problem was the unpaid money of loan sharks whose high interest rates dominated the family when their car assembly business suffered a downturn.
Former immigration bureau chief led a single operation in Bangkok that seized 1 billion yen in assets from wealthy money lenders
That year, in February, Police Lieutenant General Sompong’s predecessor, Police General Surachate Hapkarn or “Big Joke” carried out a massive raid on up to 55 illegal debt networks in Bangkok.
14 people were arrested including 12 men and two women and up to 1 billion yen in assets seized with nearly 200 title deeds. Transportation included luxury cars, hotels as well as a range of businesses.
Such is the scale of these companies and the huge profits they generate by pressing on the vulnerable necks of borrowers and their collateral victims such as Mr. Natthasak’s young wife and daughters.
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Further reading:
Usurer accused of ordering death of woman in southern Thailand at a cost of 2,500
Debt means death as mad Thai man slaughters loving wife and children in Bangkok in horror scene
14 wealthy loan sharks arrested by Thai police as threat of money lending and debt remains big issue
The Diamond Thief was a failed Chanthaburi businessman with a chronic gambling habit and in debt
Thailand’s pervasive debt problem and the struggle to survive for those affected by bad fortune
Good economic prospects for Thailand, but the debt nightmare of the poorest Thais must be resolved
The darker side of life in Thailand as some lives are ruined by murder, debt and gambling
Household debt weighs on the Thai economy