What the IMLT Evidence Store Reveals About England’s Loan Sharks

Reporters from BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire were given exclusive access this week to the evidence store run by the England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT). On the metal shelving sat a samurai sword, a meat cleaver, babies’ passports, a knuckle duster, hunting knives and gold jewellery, items that were not the haul of a knife-crime investigation.

The weapons were seized from loan sharks running unlicensed lending operations across the country, the control tools of an illegal trade that up to 1.9 million British adults may have used in the past year, according to new research. The footage, the first time cameras have followed the IMLT into the field, places those items inside a borrower-lender relationship that turns a £50 loan into a £20,000 debt and, in some cases, into threats of violence.

Inside the IMLT Evidence Store

The England Illegal Money Lending Team, known as the IMLT, opened its evidence store to reporters in an arrangement the unit describes as rare. The footage shows metal shelving, tagged exhibits and a row of items recovered during raids on suspected loan sharks: a samurai sword, a meat cleaver, babies’ passports, a knuckle duster, hunting knives and gold jewellery.

Passports can stop a victim from travelling, taking a job or doing “anything where you need some form of physical ID,” David Benbow, who leads the IMLT from Birmingham, told reporters. A knuckle duster carries a message that no contract ever puts in writing. The babies’ passports in particular show how the same documents used to start a life can be used to trap one.

The IMLT’s caseload has shifted in step with that control toolkit. Investigators now see more lenders posing as friends or acquaintances, blurring the line between help and exploitation, the unit’s chief said. The weapons, passports and jewellery in the evidence store sit at the end of a paper trail the team spent years building.

• Items seized in IMLT raids (footage): samurai sword, meat cleaver, babies’ passports, knuckle duster, hunting knives, gold jewellery.
• IMLT cases since 2004: 32,500+ people supported; £91.6 million+ of illegal debt written off.
• IMLT cases in the past year: 597 reports, 33 arrests, 6 convictions.
• Estimated loan shark users in Great Britain: about 4% of adults, roughly 1.9 million people.

Twenty-Two Years Tracking Loan Sharks

The IMLT was set up in 2004 as a pilot scheme in Birmingham. It has since grown into the only organisation in England with statutory power to investigate and prosecute illegal money lenders, operating alongside similar teams in Scotland and Wales under the umbrella brand Stop Loan Sharks.

Since 2004, the team has supported more than 32,500 people and written off more than £91.6 million worth of illegal debt, according to the IMLT’s own published figures on the IMLT team’s official page. Each regional team is staffed by specialist investigators and liaison officers drawn from police, trading standards and debt-advice backgrounds.

The IMLT works alongside the Financial Conduct Authority, which governs consumer credit. Since 2016, an industry levy has funded the teams’ work. Convictions, however, remain a small fraction of the reports the unit receives each year, a gap the team blames on the months of covert work a successful prosecution requires.

Sarah’s £20,000 Debt

Sarah, a 28-year-old from Yorkshire who asked reporters not to use her real name, first borrowed from a loan shark via social media after being turned down for a credit card. The deal was simple: borrow £50, repay £100. Within weeks the interest had escalated and the threats had begun.

“They could come and do something,” Sarah said. “I want it now or you are gonna be hurt” was one of the messages she received. Her mental health declined. She became homeless. She tried to end her life several times.

She borrowed less than half of what she eventually paid back, finishing only recently after repaying £20,000 in total. Some of her friends, Sarah said, took their own lives after accumulating thousands of pounds in loan-shark debt their families knew nothing about. The fear of being labelled a “grass” keeps many victims silent, she added.

Sarah’s case sits at the intersection of two trends the IMLT has flagged: the move of loan sharks online, and the use of intimidation to enforce repayment on borrowers who are not on the FCA’s list of legitimate lenders and so have no contractual protection.

Why did I let it get to that point?

Sarah, a loan-shark victim in Yorkshire, in the BBC investigation.

The Bristol Raid: 200 Victims, £750,000

The Bristol raid followed a tip-off from a member of the public more than a year ago. After months of covert work and digital forensics, officers arrested a suspected loan shark believed to have taken up to £750,000 from about 200 victims. Documents including passports were seized.

The Bristol suspect is one of 33 people arrested by the IMLT in the past year, against 597 reports to the team’s Stop Loan Sharks hotline. The conviction count for the same period is six.

Cases that once stayed inside one neighbourhood now stretch far across a region. The IMLT has told the BBC that victims in current cases are found up to 60 miles apart, with loan sharks increasingly using digital platforms rather than word of mouth to find borrowers.

1.9 Million Users, Six Convictions

The 1.9 million figure comes from a November 2025 study by Fair4All Finance, based on an IPSOS UK survey of adults in Great Britain. It is the first large-scale estimate of the size of the illegal lending trade.

The picture that emerges complicates the usual story. Of those who used an unlicensed lender in the past 12 months, 38% earn above £3,200 per month and 65% have children, the survey found. Use is broader than the poorest households: 51% of users had been declined for at least one other form of credit in the same period.

Use also skews young. 11% of 18-24 year olds said they had borrowed from an unlicensed lender in the past year, the highest rate of any age group measured, against 1% of 45-54 year olds. Workers on zero-hours contracts were five times more likely than those on stable contracts to have done the same.

Convictions trail far behind the demand. The IMLT’s own figures put last year at 597 reports, 33 arrests and six convictions. Asked about the gap, the team said it can take “many months” to build a successful case, and that many suspects are cautioned and served with cease-and-desist notices rather than prosecuted.

A Son’s £30 Round of Drinks

Paul, a West Yorkshire father who also asked that his real name not be used, has lived in fear for years. The trouble began when his son borrowed £30 for a round of drinks from a so-called friend, then a small amount more on a few other occasions.

“Somebody turned up at our door. Very quickly it turned into ‘your son owes me money, he can’t pay but somebody needs to pay and that’s why we’re now talking to you,'” Paul said. He emptied bank accounts, savings accounts and credit cards to hand over more than £5,000 in cash as the interest rate on the original £30 loan caused the debt to soar.

West Yorkshire Police told Paul it could not progress his report due to a lack of evidence. A second son was later targeted by the same group. Paul has since installed CCTV throughout the family home and avoids being there alone. He has now paid more than £20,000 to loan sharks “with nothing to show for it.”

From Doorstep to Instagram

The IMLT has found that loan sharks have increasingly moved online since the Covid pandemic. Raids now uncover little or no cash, because the money moves through bank transfers and digital wallets rather than over the counter. Victims are found up to 60 miles apart rather than within the same neighbourhood.

Reporters posing as prospective borrowers contacted several loan sharks who advertise on social media. Within a couple of taps they were offered between £1,000 and £3,000. In some cases lenders posed as legitimate loan firms; when asked what would happen if repayments were late, one simply wrote: “We will take action against you.”

The loan sharks demanded copies of driving licences, utility bills and screengrabs of online banking before any cash was handed over. That paperwork, the IMLT says, is then reused as a tool to pressure borrowers for as long as the original debt stays unpaid.

• Little or no formal paperwork or written agreement. Legitimate lenders provide a credit agreement and statements.
• Debt increases over time due to hidden fees or added charges, even when you pay. Regulated lenders cannot backdate interest this way.
• The lender uses intimidation, threats or violence. Any threat from a lender is a criminal offence in itself.
• The lender is not on the Financial Conduct Authority’s list. Check the FCA register before borrowing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the IMLT?

The IMLT is the England Illegal Money Lending Team, the only body in England with statutory power to investigate and prosecute unlicensed money lenders. It launched as a 2004 pilot in Birmingham and now operates alongside sister units in Scotland and Wales, with the FCA as regulator. Since 2004 the team has supported over 32,500 people and written off £91.6 million of illegal debt.

How many people in Britain use loan sharks?

Up to 1.9 million adults in Great Britain used an unlicensed lender in the past 12 months, equivalent to 4% of adults, according to a November 2025 Fair4All Finance study. The figure is highest among 18-24 year olds (11%) and zero-hours contract workers (also 11%, five times the rate of other workers).

What did the BBC find in the IMLT evidence store?

Reporters from BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire spent time inside the IMLT evidence store, where they saw tagged exhibits from raids on suspected loan sharks. The team’s haul includes a samurai sword, a meat cleaver, babies’ passports, a knuckle duster, hunting knives and gold jewellery, the same toolkit investigators say loan sharks use to keep borrowers in line.

What should someone do if approached by a loan shark?

Contact the Stop Loan Sharks hotline, run by the IMLT. Specialist investigators and liaison officers can advise on safety, support applications to write off illegal debt, and pass information to police and prosecutors. Citizens Advice and the Financial Conduct Authority can also signpost regulated lenders, credit unions and free debt advice.

How do loan sharks move victims into debt?

Loan sharks typically start with a small cash loan offered through social media, a text message or a doorstep visit, then escalate repayment demands and add hidden fees. The IMLT says borrowers are increasingly targeted online and can live up to 60 miles apart. Threats, intimidation and demands for ID documents are common once the first repayment is missed.