A suspect who had been on a card for more than five years charged customers 20 % monthly interest.
PUBLISHED: 6 Apr 2024 at 17: 54
An Indian national who was discovered overextending his visa by more than 5 years has been detained in Bangkok for offering illegal loans with a 20 % monthly interest rate.
The 59-year-old man, who was only identified as Veejay, had been giving funding to local suppliers and residents while riding a bike around the Lat Phrao region.
On Saturday, officials detained him while he was escorting funds from one of his creditors at a retail store. A diary of names and phone numbers and a sum of cash were found in his hands.
Mr. Veejay was detained on suspicion of operating a personal mortgage business without proper authorization, overextending mortgage interest boundaries, and unlawful money lending. The interest rate on personal loans is capped at 15 % per month under Thai law.
He admitted to paying about 20 % of the monthly interest to the store’s operator after being caught.
Mr Veejay was also found to had overstayed his permission to visit Thailand by 2, 076 time, or 5 years and 7 times.
The think claimed he arrived in Thailand in May 2018, applied for a holiday card, and that he had not yet submitted a second application.
The daily okay for overstaying a visa is 500 baht, but it can be as much as 20 000 baht.
He was transported to the Chokchai police stop for further investigation.