Latvian man on trial for running loan shark ring with 1,380% interest rate

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court is holding the first-instance trial of Aigars Plivės, a 39-year-old Latvian national, for engaging in illegal lending through online platforms with interest rates as high as 1,380% per year, earning VND4.15 trillion ($163.35 million) in illicit profits.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet Suong, director of Digital Credit Co., Ltd.; Truong Tuan Tai, director of Fincap VN Co., Ltd.; and other employees under Aigars Plivės are also involved in the trial, which is expected to last until next Tuesday.

According to the indictment, Aigars Plivės was an employee of Sun Finance Group, based in Latvia. Under the direction of Sun Finance, in 2018, Plivės came to Vietnam to establish and operate high-interest loan activities through three companies, namely Sofi Solutions, Digital Credit, and Fincap VN.

Between 2019 and 2021, Plivės managed lending operations through website tamo.vn, and in 2021, he was also in charge of loan operations through findo.vn.

Sun Finance developed and programmed the two websites, tamo.vn and findo.vn, and managed all customer data and loan information stored in a secure software designed to prevent employees from downloading or copying any data from the platforms.

Clients who wished to borrow money only needed to log into the websites; fill in their personal details, monthly income and expenses; and upload identification photos.

The system would then automatically approve the loan without any direct contact with lender’s staff. After the loan was approved, the money was disbursed automatically to the client’s account.

Three electronic contracts were created by the system, including one loan contract, a mortgage agreement between Digital Credit and the borrower via tamo.vn or between Fincap and the borrower via findo.vn, and a service consulting agreement with Sofi Solutions. All contracts were stored electronically, with no physical signing.

When customers borrow a loan, they only need to enter the loan amount and term, and the system will automatically calculate the interest and fees to be paid.

When the loan reaches its due date and the borrower fails to repay, they can go to the website to extend the loan by 5, 10, or 15 days, up to a maximum of 30 days, and will be required to pay an extension fee.

These additional fees are set in a way that generates profits for the three companies, similar to the interest charged on the loans.

Initially, Digital Credit disbursed loans directly to customers, but from September 2019, they shifted to disbursing through third-party platforms like Bao Kim and Momo.

The case came to light in April 2023, when a Ho Chi Minh City resident filed a report with the local police, claiming he borrowed VND1 million ($40) from Digital Credit. By the time the loan reached its due date, he owed VND21 million due to exorbitant interest and fees. He was subjected to intense debt collection efforts, prompting him to seek police intervention.

As the investigation unfolded, police uncovered an organized, large-scale loan sharking operation conducted through two websites: tamo.vn and findo.vn. The operation was run by Sofi Solutions Co., Ltd., with loans disbursed by Digital Credit Co., Ltd. and Fincap VN Co., Ltd., which masked their activities as pawn services and financial consulting.

Police extracted data on 229 borrowers and took testimony from 28 individuals. The investigation revealed that the lending companies charged interest rates as low as 401.5% per year, and as high as 1,379.7% per year, earning VND4.15 trillion ($163.35 million) in illicit profits.

Aigars Plivës began running the usurious lending operation from June 2020 to April 2023, earning a monthly salary of VND120 million ($4,724) and illicitly profiting VND4.2 billion ($165,322). The other defendants had illicit profits ranging from VND220 million to VND4 billion.