Colombia Loan Shark Network Uncovered in 24 of Mexico’s 31 States Parker Asmann - Insight Crime
go to original August 25, 2017

Colombian mobsters give loans with only a signature, which then become unpayable (La República)

A new report claims that a Colombian loan shark network is operating in more than three quarters of Mexico's states, a further indication that these lucrative schemes are expanding their illicit operations throughout Latin America.

Mexican authorities have apparently identified a Colombian loan sharking network of over 1,800 foreigners whose tentacles spreads across Latin America, according to a report by the National Migration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migración - INM) and Mexico's Interior Ministry (Secretaría de Gobernación - SEGOB) that was accessed by Milenio.

In and around the Mexican capital, the network's lenders - who are hired and brought from Colombia to Mexico - offer credit to workers or small commercial establishments with a 20 percent interest rate for 20 days, according to the report. But if there is a delay in payment, the victims are threatened, robbed or sometimes attacked.

The group allegedly operates in 24 of Mexico's 31 states, including Mexico City and the State of Mexico, as well as nine other countries in Latin America.



The loan network has a hierarchical structure, with the chief organizers at the top, followed by trusted supervisors, lenders and employees who visit clients to lend and collect money, and finally those who are in charge of promoting the loans at the bottom.

Since 2015, authorities have reportedly deported 135 lenders related to these activities in Mexico City and the State of Mexico.

There have already been indications that Colombian loan sharks were present in Mexico. In 2015, five Colombians who may have participated in a loan collection scheme were found killed in Veracruz, Mexico.

Read the rest at Insight Crime

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