KUALA LUMPUR: A father of two is a victim of several loan sharks and has been forced to repay almost 12-folds of his original loan.
The 40-year-old man who wanted to remain anonymous said he borrowed around RM23,000 from one Ah Long two years ago to support his business.
However, he ended up being stuck in the cycle of debt when he was threatened by the loan shark for not paying on time and the interest grew.
He was then forced to make a few more rounds of borrowing from other loan sharks. In total he had to borrow from 17 different Ah Long.
"I admit it was a mistake at first. But I have paid RM278,000 and the Ah Long are still harassing me and my family members," he said.
The man was then humiliated on social media when the loan sharks posted his photos on a community page with condescending remarks.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said two others are experiencing the same problem as the man.
A 32-year old lady from Terengganu fell for an online money lender scam and was discredited on social media after failing to repay the loan sharks.
Another 35-year old man, even though having paid the money borrowed, was still harassed by the loan sharks and who even posted libellous claims on social media.
He was accused of having an incestuous relationship with his sister.
"She has nothing to do with my problem. Please spare her!" the man said in a press conference at Wisma MCA here on Thursday (Dec 22).
Chong then said that the public should be wary of the tactics used by loan sharks.
"Avoid borrowing money from unlicensed online moneylenders. Most of them are scams," he said.
He also said another lady who was represented by her fiancé at Thursday's event was also harassed by loan sharks.
Chong said that to date, the department has received 271 reports on similar cases, of which 20% has been settled.
He also said that 80% of the cases were from the Chinese community, involving a total of RM31.5mil.
He said that all four victims that came forward to meet him had filed police reports.
