Police in Da Nang City, central Vietnam have cracked down on a Chinese-led loan shark ring in which borrowers were charged interest rates of more than 500 percent per year, with the ring leader and 192 other loan sharks detained.

The suspected mastermind of the ring was identified as Wang Yun Tao, of Chinese nationality, the municipal police department said on Saturday.

Police officers earlier discovered that local residents borrowed loans via lending apps which offered yearly interest rates of over 500 percent.

Failing to pay up the money by the due date, debtors and their family members would be threatened or terrorized by the loan sharks.

After launching an investigation into the case in November last year, the law enforcement agency uncovered that this loan shark racket was operating on a wide scale, encompassing multiple provinces and cities nationwide.

More than 190 people have been detained for their alleged involvement in this recently-busted loan shark ring. Photo: H.B. / Tuoi Tre

On Thursday this week, hundreds of police officers from the Ministry of Public Security and the relevant localities including Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong Province raided nine locations where they arrested Wang and the other 192 suspects.

The forces also confiscated a large number of computers and froze tens of billions of Vietnam dong in bank accounts. [VND1 billion = US$40,800]

Wang confessed that he and his compatriot had hired Vietnamese people to serve as legal representatives for the former’s companies operating in various fields in Vietnam.

These businesses, in fact, were set up to serve their loan shark operations.

The suspects of the racket were transported to Da Nang under police escort on Saturday to serve the investigation.

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