KUALA LUMPUR: Like most people, a contractor was facing hard times because of the Covid-19 pandemic – unlike most people, he then took a loan from an illegal moneylender to keep his business afloat.
Little did the father of two know he would end up in a downward spiral of owing money to as many as 17 loan sharks (ah long) and facing constant harassment from them when he could not settle his debts.
The 40-year-old man – who declined to be identified – said initially, he only took RM23,000 from one ah long in 2020.
“When I failed to pay it off, the interest kept accumulating,” he told a press conference arranged by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong here yesterday. He said he was then forced to take another loan to cover the first one, then another and another until he ended up owing money to 17 loan sharks.
The businessman finally settled all his debts of RM278,000 recently, but the harassment from the illegal moneylenders did not stop.
“They are still threatening me and my family. They even posted photos of me on Facebook and said bad things about me.
“I admit it was a mistake at first, but I have paid more than 12 times the money I took,” he said, adding that he had lodged a police report.
