Police have warned the public to be cautious of loan scams and predatory online lending services, which have claimed an increasing number of victims during the pandemic as more people are forced to stay home due to Covid-19 restrictions.
The Royal Thai Police issued the warning after seeing complaints about loan scams and loansharking skyrocket in recent months, the majority of which were carried out online, said deputy police spokesman, Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen.
The first type of scam commonly reported involves a bogus lending and/or financial management application, which demands the victim transfer a certain amount of cash to access the loan and/or services. However, after the payments were made, the victims received no loans, Pol Col Kissana said.
Other commonly reported cases involve predatory lending, the deputy police spokesman said. In these cases, the victims would receive a loan after signing up through a mobile phone application. However, in addition to demanding very high interest rates, the lenders would use the app to gain access to the victims' private information, which they would then use to blackmail the victims into repaying the debt with interest, Pol Col Kissana said.
Police said 263 complaints were lodged between June 1-July 16, most of which were related to financial crimes and illegal online loans.