The Star Malaysia

Homeless man takes advantage of woman’s kindness

- By LIEW JIA XIAN jiaxian@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Kindness is not always repaid in kind. Just ask Chow Lai Wah. She took a homeless man from Sibu into her home and fed him, only to end up being chased by a loan shark for money he borrowed.

The 26-year-old singer said she took pity on Lau Beng Hiew@Ah Shou, 31, and allowed him to stay at her house.

Chow’s housemate Annie even bought an air ticket for Lau to return to Sibu on Sept 9.

However after he left, a loan shark named Oscar messaged Chow on WhatsApp demanding payment for a loan taken by Lau, whom he claimed was Chow’s boyfriend.

It turned out Chow’s IC had been misused and she was named the guarantor for Lau’s RM2,000 loan.

Chow said she was worried as she did not know how many times her IC had been used.

“I am not Ah Shou (Lau)’s girlfriend. I was kind to him.

“Ah Shou, I helped you, please face your own problem,” she pleaded at a press conference organised by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong here yesterday.

Chong said this was not the first such case.

“The victims usually allow their ‘friend’ to stay at their house, and in the end, their personal details are stolen and used to borrow money from ah long,” he said.

Chong said six cases of misused ICs were reported this year, with the total amounting to RM13,840.

 ??  ?? Good deed punished: Chow holding up a picture of Lau and the WhatsApp message from loan sharks with her IC with Chong in Kuala Lumpur.
Good deed punished: Chow holding up a picture of Lau and the WhatsApp message from loan sharks with her IC with Chong in Kuala Lumpur.

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