TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted a loan sharking ring that targeted nearly 1,000 persons in a scheme that involved charging interest rates more than 160 times that allowed by the law, reports TV Asahi (Feb. 23).
Between November of 2015 and October of last year, Daiki Nakazawa, 42, and four other persons allegedly charged interest rates between 45 and 162 times that allowed under the Money Lending Business Act in collecting 1.12 million yen from a 57-year-old woman in Nerima Ward and one other person.
Nakazawa and one other suspect deny the allegations, while the other three suspects admit to the charges, according to the Ikebukuro Police Station.
In carrying out the operation, the suspects unjustly obtained a list of persons who had filed for bankruptcy and targeted them through a marketing scheme conducted via the postal mail, police said.
In attempting to evade detection, the suspects used 340 bank accounts in the names of other persons, police said.
The suspects are believed to have obtained 190 million yen in profits in extending the loans to a total of around 900 people, police said.
