China’s public security authorities have launched investigations into nearly 1900 organised “taolu” loan cases, following a nationwide crackdown on predatory lending.
The Ministry of Public Security announced that following a nationwide crackdown a total of 1890 organised taolu loan cases have been investigated, leading to the apprehension of 18,651 suspects and the seizure of 16.176 billion yuan in assets.
The Chinese authorities define “taolu loans” (套路贷) as criminal activity which has the goal of the illegal acquisition of the assets of victims, by inducing them to sign lending, pledging or guarantee agreements before inflating loan amounts or maliciously fabricating contractual breach events in order to create “false debts.”
The “Opinions Concerning Several Problems in Relation to the Handling of Taolu Loan Criminal Cases” (关于办理“套路贷”刑事案件若干问题的意见) launched on 9 April 2019 distinguish taolu loans from private lending, whose principal and lawful interest payments are subject to the protection of Chinese law.
The Ministry of Public Security said that it would continue to step up its crackdown on taolu lending, focusing in particular on the use of illegal credit apps and illegal online lending platforms
Related stories
