Woman harassed by loan sharks after ex-husband runs up RM700,000 gambling debts

KUALA LUMPUR: A 38-year-old woman, whose ex-husband disappeared after running up a RM700,000 gambling debt, is pleading for loan sharks to leave her family alone after being threatened and harassed.

Tan Lee Tin, from Batu Pahat, had been married for 13 years when she finally had enough of her 41-year-old husband's gambling problems.

The mother of two divorced him two years ago, going as far as to publish an advertisement in a Chinese newspaper.

But that has not stopped Tan from being targeted by loan sharks who are after the RM700,000 that her husband had borrowed to feed his gambling addiction.

At a press conference on Wednesday (Aug 8) held by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong at Wisma MCA, Tan said loan sharks have repeatedly turned up at her mother's house in Parit Sulong, Johor, to demand the money.

She said the first incident happened on July 25, when five Chinese men in a black MPV came knocking on her mother's door to ask her to settle the loan.

Fearing for their lives, Tan's father installed a CCTV for safety, but the loan sharks came again in the afternoon with the same demand. They left a contact number and asked the family to negotiate, said Tan.

Worried about the threats, Tan lodged a police report at the Kluang police station on July 26, but the loan sharks told the family they were not worried about being hunted by the police.

"They said if anything happens to them, we have to watch out. Now I am so afraid I do not even want to leave the house.

"Please, let us go and instead look for my ex-husband, don't disturb the family members anymore," pleaded Tan.

The whereabouts of the Tan's ex-husband is unknown.

Tan said despite the police report, the loan sharks have continued to harass her, pasting photocopies of her MyKad on streetlamps in the area, and claiming that she is a con-woman.

They also splashed red and blue paint on July 27 and Aug 2 on her mother's house to scare the family members. The situation has gotten so bad, her ex-husband's siblings, who have also been harassed and threatened, have been forced to shift to another area.

Chong said he would do his best to help Tan and ensure the loan sharks leave the family alone.

He also revealed that there has been an upswing in the number of loan shark threats following an increase in gambling activities during the 2018 FIFA World Cup which ended last month.

He said as of August this year, there have been 231 complaints about loan shark harassment, involving some RM21.26mil.

The bulk of the cases involved the Chinese community, with a total of 172 cases. Twenty four cases involved Malays, while the Indian community had a total of 22 cases.