Loan sharks preying on cash-strapped victims across the North are being snared by a specialist team of investigators. Lucy Richardson reports.

PHYSICAL violence, sexual abuse, threats and public humiliation are some of the ploys used against people forced into taking out illegal debts with huge interest rates.

The Illegal Money-Lending Team set up 18 months ago is now reaping the rewards of its undercover probes.

Team manager David Sayer said they had been successful and very disruptive.

He said that 95 cases were being investigated across the region, involving £600,000 in loans. Twenty arrests have been made as a result of the investigations.

The Government-funded initiative was extended across the country following two pilot projects in Glasgow and Birmingham.

Mr Sayer said: “Research showed that there were a lot of loan sharks operating in Newcastle and North Tyneside, but we have found them across the region. Teesside is especially bad.

“Cases take a long time to come to court, but they are starting to come through now.”

The investigators are employed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.

Mr Sayer said one woman was attacked in a pub for reporting a loan shark, and many are humiliated by being shouted at in the street.

Others had said they were offered the opportunity to pay off their debts by having sex with loan sharks and their friends.

He said: “We know of loan sharks soliciting sex from their clients. It is a case of ‘if you cannot make your payment, there are other ways you can pay’.

“They develop a long-term relationship and keep on milking their victims for as long as they can get away with it.

“People hide behind furniture when they hear the knock on the door. A lady told me ‘he rules my life’.

Victims often work irregular shifts and are therefore unable to provide banks with a core income to secure a legal loan.

Mr Sayer said: “Wherever there are pockets of deprivation, you will find loan sharks.

“They can seem like the right answer to the problem.

They are friendly and they will not turn you down.”

Extortion is often used to launder money obtained through other criminals, including prostitution, drugs, illegal exports and counterfeit clothing. In one case, the victim had to repay ten times the amount initially borrowed.

Mr Sayer said: “Once people have sat down and worked out what they have paid, they realise that they have repaid the original amount several times over.

“The worst of the victims are not paying for frivolities – they are often just trying to meet rent and utility bills.

“We treat the victims with a great deal of support as they are serious about their responsibilities.”

A case is opened when trained officers take a call from a victim, usually a woman, on the freephone number 0300-555222.

Mr Sayer said that without councils giving them permission to carry out undercover surveillance, their hands would be tied.

He said: “It is essential that we have these powers to conduct the surveillance.

“With a warrant, we go in and take their record books, computers and mobile phones, which identify the victims and the payments made. Once we have all of this, we end up with a pretty tight case.”

Victims are given advice about support groups such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and credit unions.

Mr Sayer said: “When we get a call, one of the first things we tell them is that it is an illegal loan and they do not have to pay it back.

“A lot of people are still too scared to give evidence in court, but we do not force them.

“It is nice to know that we are now causing grief to people who deserve it, and not the other way round.

“If I were a loan shark in the region, I would be much more worried than I would have been three years ago.”