Harassed by loan sharks over a loan they never took
JOHOR BARU: A family here is living in fear after a relative, who wanted to borrow S$10,000 (RM30,000) from a loan shark in Singapore, is now being harassed despite changing his mind and not taking up the loan offer.
The loan sharks have come and sprayed red paint at their family home in Johor Jaya and a factory outlet in Ulu Tiram.
A woman known as Miss Lee said that their nightmare started on Saturday morning when her elderly father’s home in Johor Jaya was sprayed with red paint.
“We thought it was a mistaken identity and I decided to contact the number on the note.
“I was shocked when told that my brotherin-law had borrowed S$10,000 (RM30,000) from a money lending company and they wanted the money back,” she said.
She said when she contacted her brotherin-law, he admitted to asking for the money but cancelled the deal when the money lenders wanted S$2,000 (RM6,000) as a deposit to release the money.
Lee added that when the brother-in-law cancelled the deal, the money lenders had deposited only S$200 (RM600) into his account.
“When I got back to the money lender to inform him about this, the man was furious and started hurling curses and abuses at me and demanded that I pay up the full S$10,000,” she said.
She added that on Sunday, the premises which used to be their factory in Ulu Tiram was splashed with red paint along with her photographs.
She said she had since lodged at least two police reports over the matter.
Lee said the syndicate had been using Singaporean numbers to contact her.
“Luckily, my sister’s family in Singapore were not harassed.
“I also explained to the loan shark that we did not borrow any money and to leave us alone but they are acting very aggressively,” she said, adding that they sought the help of Pasir Gudang MCA public complaints deputy bureau chief Ang Tun Chek.
Ang said since the movement control order (MCO) in March, they had been getting complaints about fake loan scams such as this almost every month.
“We urge people not to pay any deposit for loans,” he said, adding that in one case, a victim from Batu Pahat paid up to RM60,000 as deposits for a loan.
Ang hoped that the police would carry out investigations and work with their Singaporean counterparts to nab those involved as well as track down such loan sharks who prey on people suffering due to the MCO.
He added that the loan sharks were using social media to entice their victims with promises of low-interest rates.
“They get all the person’s particulars including identity card numbers, bank accounts and addresses and then start harassing them even when the victims change their mind and do not want to borrow any money,” he added.
Meanwhile, a police official from Seri Alam district police headquarters confirmed that they received two reports from the victim and investigations were underway.