Across Thailand, police have arrested people in an illicit lending network

The Criminal Court had issued warrants for their arrest earlier this week. The warrants were issued on grounds of collaborating in the illegal operation of money lending services and charging interest rates that exceeded legal limits, according to the commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau. The men ranged in age from 19 to 31 years old.

Thai police have captured 29 suspected members of an online criminal lending network across the country. Small business owners complained to the Economic Crime Suppression Division, stating that they borrowed money from the website and were charged exorbitant interest rates. According to ECD inspectors, the website targeted small and medium-sized firms that were cash-strapped and unable to obtain legitimate financing. According to Phadol, the investigation was extended in order to catch the perpetrators behind the website, and the website was ordered closed. When the business owners couldn’t make the payments, the website proprietors sent men to scare them, according to investigators. The website has several hundred victims, according to ECD superintendent Colonel Phadol Chandon, and 450 million baht is in circulation. Some of the victims, he alleged, were so agitated that they attempted suicide.

Another 21 individuals were captured in Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, Bangkok, and Pathum Thani. Eight suspects, all men, were apprehended in Chanthaburi, Pathum Thani, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Ratchasima, and Bangkok. Over 300 items, including 54 cellphones, 24 laptop computers, two PCs, four tablet computers, and numerous SIM cards, were confiscated from the eight individuals.