Strengthen warnings, directly support protecting workers from black credit

Black credit traps are rampant

Ms. Tran Thi Hoa - a worker at a garment company in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa, needed money to pay her child's tuition, so she registered to borrow 5 million VND through an online app. After that, she was under pressure to pay off the debt, the amount she paid after 3 months of borrowing, including principal and interest, was 9 million VND.

According to statistics from Ninh Thuan Provincial Police, from the beginning of 2024 to now, 56 cases of fraud and property appropriation on cyberspace have been received, with the amount of money appropriated being more than 30 billion VND.

Speaking to Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, Lieutenant Colonel Do Minh Kim - Deputy Head of Department 3, Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05), Ministry of Public Security - said that recently, many workers have had their ATM cards opened by some financial leasing companies and loan applications and then resold to scammers.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Do Minh Kim, a typical example of this crime was in April 2024, when A05 coordinated with the police of Phu Yen and Binh Duong provinces to arrest Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nhung and 4 accomplices for operating a ring that illegally purchased hundreds of thousands of bank accounts.

According to the investigation, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nhung and her accomplices established Nhung Nguyen Financial Consulting Company Limited, with many branches operating in industrial parks in Binh Duong and some southern provinces and cities. At these branches, the company's employees, under the name of "credit loan consultants", actually collected customer information through ID cards and photos of workers. Then, the subjects used junk SIM cards to open online bank accounts, each junk SIM card and one personal information, the subjects registered dozens of accounts at different banks.

On average, every month, this criminal ring sells tens of thousands of illegal bank accounts to the market, earning tens of billions of dong in profits. The victims are mostly workers and people in difficult circumstances.

Lieutenant Colonel Do Minh Kim also shared more information that bad guys take advantage of groups related to workers to spread fraudulent information, call for investment, gambling, lottery, black credit... to appropriate workers' assets.

Unions step in to support

Ms. Phuong Khoi, a worker at Always Company (Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, Ho Chi Minh City), said that last June 2024, her mother in her hometown (Thoi Binh district, Ca Mau province) fell and had a dislocated vertebrae that required surgery. She planned to borrow money from some loan sharks outside to pay for her mother's medical treatment, but fortunately, through the Trade Union, she was able to borrow 40 million VND from CEP with a low interest rate to send money back home for her mother's medical treatment.

Ms. Nguyen Hong Bich - Chairman of the Trade Union of Hai Thanh Company, Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park (HCMC) - said that not long ago, a male employee of the company borrowed 30 million VND from black credit with an interest rate of 20%.

This employee also borrowed money from lending apps with high interest rates, about 10%/month. When the loan amount reached 200 million VND, this employee was no longer able to repay the debt, so he had to ask the union for help because the lender called and threatened to beat him if he did not repay.

Ms. Bich contacted CEP to guarantee the loan for this employee and she herself borrowed money from CEP to contribute more money for the employee to pay off the black credit debt. At the same time, she called the lender, made an appointment to pay the money when CEP disbursed the loan and asked them not to beat or harm the employee's health, otherwise she would report to the police. When CEP disbursed the loan, she and CEP staff went to pay the lender directly. Thanks to that, the employee escaped and is now working normally at the company.

Mr. Hoang Van Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Members of CEP shared that CEP has coordinated with the Labor Federation of 9 provinces in the East and Southwest to sign a program to participate in preventing and combating black credit among workers and employees through 3 groups of solutions: Increasing access to CEP products and services for workers; Improving financial knowledge, helping workers avoid black credit and effectively manage personal finances; Supplementing capital sources to meet workers' borrowing needs. One goal of this program is that in 5 years (2023 - 2028), CEP will provide loans to more than 1.41 million workers and worker households with an amount of nearly 50,060 billion VND.

According to Mr. Quach Man Nghia - Chairman of the Trade Union of Always Company, during the period when the company had little work, the income of employees decreased, many people needed money to pay for their children's school fees, send money back home to help their families, parents, repair houses... so they borrowed money from outside with high interest rates.

Faced with this reality, the company's union has coordinated so that employees can borrow money from CEP at a low interest rate of about 0.4%/month and without having to pay any additional fees. On average, each year, about 450 employees of the company can borrow from CEP an amount of about 4 billion VND, thanks to which many people do not have to borrow from black credit with high interest rates.

Ms. Tran Thi Hong Van - President of the Trade Union of Nissey Electric Vietnam Company (Linh Trung Export Processing Zone, Ho Chi Minh City) - informed that on average there will be 4 loan periods per year and each quarter about 100 employees of the company borrow CEP with an amount of about 2 billion VND. From this source of capital, many families of employees have had more income, improved their lives, many people have avoided black credit.