Police officers from the Economic Crime Suppression Division (ECD) have taken down two loan shark businesses that are believed to engage in 1 billion baht worth of transactions a year.
Yesterday, Pol Col Mekpisarn Sriphirom, the superintendent of ECD 5, said the officers recently raided premises in Bangkok, Pichit, Samut Prakan and Chanthaburi, and arrested four suspects allegedly related to Burin-Credit and Memoney-Credit.
The four suspects were Tossaphon Siangka, 29; Saknarin Chinnorot, 29; Yutthana Fueangfoo, 27; and Kiattisak Thankhongthong, 21. They were charged with issuing unauthorised loans, collecting illegal interest and extorting debt payments.
The officers also seized 13 personal computers, 38 mobile phones, nearly 50 SIM cards, 22 warrant checks worth a total of 7,990,000 baht and four cars belonging to debtors.
According to Pol Col Mekpisarn, Burin-Credit and Memoney-Credit targeted small businesses that lacked financial liquidity or had no access to a legal loan.
They transferred the requested amount minus an interest rate of 1.5% a day to the accounts of those seeking the loans via their mobile banking apps.