Man and family mistakenly targeted by loan sharks

KUALA LUMPUR: A furniture shop owner awoke from his sleep because of noise outside his house in Sri Petaling and found his car and the porch splashed with red paint.

Choong Weng Wai said his Myvi and the porch wall and floor were damaged in the incident last Saturday, adding that he believed it to be the job of illegal moneylenders.

“They must have mistaken my house with that of a neighbour who moved out two weeks ago,” said the 60-year-old.

Worried for his family’s safety, Choong lodged a police report and sought help from MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong yesterday.

Chong said his files showed that the neighbour — a yoga instructor known only as Lim — was a victim of harassment by loan sharks.

“Just two months ago, Lim came to me after she could no longer take the harassment from the loan sharks, who forced her to settle a RM60,000 debt owed by her habitual gambler husband.

“She told us that she was separated from her husband for five years and begged me to help her,” he said.

In another incident, 64-year-old retiree How Kam Long and his wife publicly disowned their son who has gone into hiding from loan sharks.

How said he had lost contact with his businessman son Mun Yun, 39, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, aged 10 and 12.

“I only came to know about my son’s financial difficulties after several loan sharks turned up at my home and demanded that my wife and I settle my son’s debt of RM350,000 last month,” he said.

How said he had remained at his hometown in Pahang while his son came to work here eight years ago.