168 people, ranging in age from 14 to 72, are being investigated by the police for their alleged involvement in unlawful money lending activities.
Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the seven Police land divisions conducted simultaneous searches around the island during a two-week anti-unlicensed moneylending operation that took place between September 20 and October 1, 2021.
Harassment
Preliminary investigations revealed that 14 suspects are suspected of harassing debtors at their homes
34 suspects are suspected of being runners who assisted in unlicensed ,moneylending businesses by making ATM transfers and one suspect is suspected of providing false contact information to an unlicensed moneylender, resulting in harassment.
Opened Bank Accounts and sell them to “ah long”
The remaining 119 suspects are believed to have opened bank accounts and provided their ATM cards, Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) and/or Internet Banking tokens to unlicensed moneylenders to facilitate their businesses.
Investigations against all the suspects are ongoing.