Amid the scorching summer heat, Nguyen Thi Bich Ha, 42, from Ba Ngoi ward of Cam Ranh City looked tired: "We have raised lobsters for a few years but the debt we have incurred is up to hundreds of million of dong."

Ha said she has heart disease and poor health, so she has to be hospitalized regularly. Her husband, Tong Van Hoa, 44, is a hired diver. Their two children are living with relatives.

About seven years ago, Ha and her husband built a four-level house on a small strip of land alongside the coast. They also borrowed money to raise lobsters on CamRanh Bay. At first, they had just several cages of lobster, but later 30.

In mid-2022, they harvested lobsters and sold to merchants for VND500 million. Encouraged, Ha planned to continue to raise thousands of lobsters. However, she met with misfortune.

Merchants have collected the lobsters but they have not paid for them yet.

Looking at her husband, who was bringing lobster cages from the sea to the deserted land plot, Ha said: “Our life is getting even harder. Our number of cages has dropped from 30 to 10. And we have a big debt. We now have to live from hand to mouth”.

At noon, Ho Thi Chanh, 47, in Cam Thuan ward, was seen sitting and calculating the amount of money she had spent and paid to banks. Chanh and her husband owe VND7 billion to a bank and they have to pay tens of millions of dong of interest each month.

Chanh said in mid-2022, she sold the lobsters raised in 100 cages to Tran Huu Tranh, 40, in Cam Thuan ward of Cam Ranh City. Tranh introduced himself as a broker who was in charge of collecting lobster for a big merchant named N.T.A.T, 35, the owner of an enterprise in Thu gDuc City.

Tranh said that T’s large business specialized in exporting products. For every kilogram of lobsters Tranh could collect, he got pay of VND10,000.

Chanh not only sold her lobsters, but also collected lobsters of other farming households in the locality to sell to Tranh. However, Tranh has owed VND6 billion to Chanh since mid-2022.

As a broker and intermediary, Chanh is facing a big problem. Lobster farming households in the locality have flocked to her house and asked to pay debt. Chanh had to mortgage her so do (red book, or land use right certificate) to borrow VND7 billion from a bank to get money to pay for the lobsters.

“As merchants refuse to pay debts, we are getting exhausted,” Chanh said, adding that she has never fallen into such a difficult situation.

Facing the same problem, Truong Van An, 47, in Cam Ranh City, was from a well-off family in the past, but is now struggling with big debts. An and his wife had to mortgage six so do to borrow VND9.5 million to lobster sellers and pay VND90 million in interest each month.

An is another victim of Tranh. At first, Tranh made payment for lobsters promptly, but later, he delayed the payment and to date, still owes VND11 billion to An.

Tens of lobster cages in Cam Ranh have confirmed that Tranh has not paid VND40 billion. Failing to ask Tranh to pay the debts, farmers have reported the case to the police.

Tranh told VietNamNet that he is also a victim. As T., the owner of the export company, has not made payment for the lobsters, he doesn’t have money to pay to lobster farmers. T told Tranh that her partners were slow in making payments, so T could not pay Tranh.

T wrote an IOU, acknowledging that she owed VND40 billion to Tranh and she would pay as soon as she was able. However, the businesswoman ha not fulfilled her promise.

Tranh and other people have been searching for N.T.A.T everywhere, from her house to lobster processing workshop, but they have not found her. When they visited the head office of Thanh Nhon Seafood and Trade Co Ltd, they could not find any signs of a business operating.

Xuan Ngoc