Family Ties

Sometimes, it's your fellow countrymen you need to be most careful of when you are abroad:

"Two male Taiwan nationals of Toshima Ward 豊島区, Tōkyō 東京, were rearrested May 8 for allegedly lending money to compatriots at illegally high interest rates, with the borrowers' passports taken as collateral, it has been learned. The suspects were identified as 48-year-old Xie Chang-min, a company executive, and his unemployed 46-year-old brother, Xie Chang-guo. They were rearrested for violating the Investment Deposit and Interest Rate Law. The Metropolitan Police Department 警視庁 believes the siblings loaned about 670 million yen ($7 million/NT232 million) to about 290 Taiwan nationals living in the Kantō region 関東地方 and received about 300 million yen ($3.1 million/NT104 million) in illegal profits. According to an investigative source, the siblings have been operating their moneylending business illegally since 2003. Between February 2007 to February this year, the suspects allegedly lent money to five Taiwan nationals at interest rates exceeding the legal limit."

("Taiwan siblings held over illegal moneylending", Daily Yomiuri ザ・デイリー読売)