A multi-billion dollar criminal lending scheme resulted in 89 deaths in China: CCTV
The scheme would trap people in illegal loan contracts that resulted in annual compound interests as high as 5,214 per cent.
One man borrowed 2,000 yuan (US$305) before eventually owing 700,000 yuan (US$107,000) in a vicious cycle of predatory lending.

A gang of loan sharks in China caused the deaths of 89 people after the crime ring hired debt collection companies to harass and intimidate borrowers who had no feasible avenue to pay off their obligations, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.The gang, headed by a man named Wang Tao and based in the city of Lanzhou, in the northwestern province of Gansu, inked 3.36 million contracts with 475,000 people between March 2018 and March 2019.The loan sharks gave out 6.27 billion yuan (US$960 million) of illegal loans. After interest, Wang’s gang had been repaid 9.11 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) and owned an outstanding debt of 9.84 billion (US$1.5 billion), according to accounting books presented at the trials.

The gang implemented aggressive collection tactics blended with vicious interest rate schemes, believed to have contributed to the suicides of 89 people in China.Wang’s illegal enterprise lured unsuspecting borrowers with enticing terms such as “interest-free for seven days” or “low threshold, fast loans” in contracts that often resulted in annual interest rates of between 1,303 per cent to 5,214 per cent if the borrower could not pay off their debt quickly. According to Experian, a credit rating agency, the average interest rate for an above-board personal loan is 9.4 per cent.

The crime ring, which had no lending license, would also issue what police call “trap loans,” which did not include terms for defaulting, which sometimes resulted in borrowers selling their properties to pay off debts.

The fraudulent company hired 24 debt collection companies that harassed, threatened and intimated victims and their family members for a commission. Authorities say this intimidation directly resulted in some victims taking their own lives.

One victim in Sichuan province who could not pay off her debts committed suicide with her husband. Another woman in Qinghai followed a similar fate.The CCTV documentary aired footage of a man who, during his final video clip, said he wanted to “die as a relief” from the burden his debts had created.The scheme caught the eye of authorities in December 2018, and in March 2019 253 people were detained during a dragnet across the three provinces of Gansu, Shaanxi and Anhui.

Wang was sentenced to life in prison while his top lieutenants received anywhere from five to 20-year sentences during a series of trials that ended in September 2020.

The apps and websites would lure people into the platform where the victim would input their personal information as well as phone contacts or phone call records.Wang’s crew would often target the same people with companies that appeared different but were all within his criminal spider web. A person would borrow from one of Wang’s “companies” to pay the debt in another

https://amp.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3127483/multi-billion-dollar-criminal-lending-scheme-resulted-89-deaths

Nigerian government should do the needful abeg...too many people are loosing their lives to Suicide as a result of these loan sharks.

Same measures should be carried in Nigeria, the owners of these loan sharks should investigated and jailed for live!

Only God knows the number of deaths these loans sharks caused in Nigeria...A country without statistics.

Plus10:
Same measures should be carried in Nigeria, the owners of these loan sharks should investigated and jailed for live!

Not just the apps.. There are also some ruthless individuals in our various communities who offer loans with a very exorbitant amount of interest rate of 30 percent. That's bad, and they take advantage of the gullible and helpless borrowers who keep running back to them reluctantly for more loans. Borrowers who become depressed and sad after defaulting to pay such high amount.

These lenders have done more harms than good, so they deserve to be arrested and prosecuted by the regulatory bodies.

ik

They better commit suicide than owing their friends and family and refusing to pay back.

Fucking bastards!

If you don't have any source of income or any means don't collect loans,even if you have no donoass yourself

FuckDModz:
They better commit suicide than owing their friends and family and refusing to pay back.

Fucking bastards!

Bleep u modafucker.golddigger.u can eat my ass.bitch.

No wonder, 90% of loan apps in Nigeria is been owen by same Chinese. There modud operandi is just same with what the OP wrote, make Naija govt do the needful before suicide becomes ppls hubbie

FuckDModz:
They better commit suicide than owing their friends and family and refusing to pay back.

Fucking bastards!

Get sense!!!,if you don't, pray for 1

Lazy Zoogerians did loan shark forced you to download their app, register and opted in for a loan service. Or do you want to make your witchcraft and envy and hatred known to the world. You want to rip where you did not sow.