Financial Difficulties
The snide tactics used by loan sharks
The Manchester Evening News has a track record of excellent investigative journalism looking at a range of safeguarding topics. One of the recent long articles looked at the tactics of loan sharks. The image that often comes to mind of a loan shark is of ‘heavies’ threatening violence. This article shows that their methods can be much more emotionally intimidating.
With a likely economic downturn, increased unemployment, evictions and financial hardship may affect many more people. Loan sharks thrive in such circumstances. This article is well-worth a read.
Three things I learned from this newspaper article:
Snapchat and WhatsApp are regularly used to contact vulnerable people and one in five victims met their lender via social media in the first half of 2020.
It takes on average three years for a victim to come forward for help after borrowing from a loan shark.
Some loan sharks make people turn to shoplifting to pay off their debts.
You can report a loan shark, or find out more here: https://www.stoploansharks.co.uk/
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