Italy's recent economic crisis
has boosted usury with loansharks' business up to 24 billion
euros from 20 billion in 2011, a new report said Wednesday.
Some 200,000 businesspeople and professionals are victims of
loansharks, said the survey from retail group Confesercenti and
SOS Impresa.
The average annual per capita debt incurred is now 125,000
euros, up from 90,000, the report said.
The number of complaints to the police about usury or
loansharking fell from 1,4036 in 1996 to 408 in 2016, the report
said.
The "district loan shark" had virtually disappeared and usury
was now in the hands of "big criminal organisations, the report
said.
Victims of usury got over six million euros in aid from a
government solidarity fund in 2017, antiracket and anti-usury
commissioner Domenico Cuttaia said at the presentation of the
report.
He said that 69 mortgages had been granted and that 85% of
the sums loaned did not come back.
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