between people to find out - where they can go to get the money. they re able to access, you know, a couple of hundred quid and - they re able to access quickly, there s no forms to fill in, - there s no complicated - questions about, you know, existing debt you have, or your credit history. l you ask for the money, - and if you need it that night you ll get it that night. it is it s that easy. jane says she reached the point where she felt there was no way out. there i was for weeks, months, repeating it week after week after week. terrifying. i m never gonna get out of this. are they gonna come back and say, oh you still owe another ten pound 7 because i had no control over it, i couldn t keep track of it, my mind was somewhere else. if you were identified, what do you think would happen to you? intimidated, or worse.
a week to ten days. and we will help them with food, with gas and electricity and we ll do all we can to provide places where you can come and be warm and spend time with us. but that s utter pressure. that s a mental pressure to live with day in, day out. within three weeks, jane says she was forced to hand over her benefits to the paramilitaries. they were there outside the post office waiting for me until i collected the money they then took the book and kept the book for the following week. the second timejane missed her weekly payment, she says the intimidation quickly escalated. the threat was delivered by her friend. they would deliver a message through her, who would say that money needs to be paid, or else. i never knew what or else totally
to paramilitary loan sharks. we ve spoken to one woman still living in a loyalist estate, who we are calling jane. she was a victim of paramilitary money lenders. she agreed to speak to us anonymously. she is fearful for her safety. her words are spoken by an actor. i had no, um, close relatives, no support. a couple of close friends. uh, i was struggling. i didn t think there was any. as long as i paid the money back every week, there would be no hassle. a single mum on benefits, jane found even basic necessities hard to afford.
been to my prosecution, one of them a suspended sentence, do you see that as a success? i, um, understand the, the figures, um, are not reflective of the problem. the prosecution figures are not reflective of the problem, um, that we face here in northern ireland. it is a difficult crime to investigate. i believe that it is significantly underreported. we are trying to progress investigations. we have four other prosecutions that have been reported to the pps. in fact, recently we ve undertaken a proactive operation in, um, the mid and east antrim area, uh, including newtownabbey as well. according to jane, vulnerable women in her community are getting sucked into criminalisty in the run up to christmas because they are being forced to pay off loans using their own prescription drugs as well as cash. they re paying with their medication. as a part payment?
after months of living in fear, jane was finally able to escape her debt by selling family possessions. there s people being exploited. gonna cost more than money to fix this. it s costing people their lives, their homelife, their livelihood, everything. it s huge. hardship gives loan sharks an opening. fear is what lets them thrive. the cost of living crisis is already increasing desperation in many communities. hello there, today is the transition