IPOH: Desperate and having unwittingly trusted a man he barely knew, Chong Hong Leong is now neck-deep in debt and on the verge of being declared a bankrupt.
The 56-year-old unemployed man now has about RM65,000 in loans that he is required to settle, after trusting a man, known as Yoong, with his personal details.
Chong said he was a former carpenter who had lost his job during the movement control order period in 2020 and was desperately looking for a source of income.
“Yoong, whom I got to know through his wife, who had worked in my former workplace, approached me to work for him.
“He also gave me a place to stay in a shophouse while I helped out at his farm,” he said in a press conference held by Perak MCA public services and complaints bureau chief Charles Yuen here yesterday.
Earlier this year, Yoong told Chong to open a company to sell produce from the farm, promising to share the profits with him.
“He brought me to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM) to register the company as the sole proprietor. He also brought me to open a bank account, purportedly for the company.
“I must admit that I am a bit illiterate, so I trusted Yoong to take care of things,” said Chong, adding that he gave his ATM card and password to Yoong.
Chong said Yoong had promised to pay him regularly but he only received a few hundred ringgit every now and then.
“In February this year, he brought me to a financial services agency in Greentown to obtain a loan of about RM20,000 for the company, which was approved and deposited into my bank account.
“He also informed me a few weeks later that he had bought a car using my name. I started to feel something was wrong as I did not sign any documents to get a hire purchase loan,” he said.
Chong said when he checked with CCM, he found out that his name had been registered for another company which he had no knowledge of.
“I also checked with my bank and found that I have a loan of RM45,000 to settle, which I believe is related to the car.
“The loan from the financial services agency that had been deposited into my bank account was also not in there. I confronted Yoong about the discrepancies and was kicked out from the shophouse,” he added.
Chong said just a couple of days earlier, he had received a call from a car rental service operator to return a car to him.
“They told me that the agreement for the car rental services had expired and the car would be returned to me. It was the first time that I ever saw the car,” he said, adding that several police reports had been lodged against Yoong.
Yuen said he would help Chong register with the Social Security Organisation and hopefully find him a job.
“Chong knows he has to bear the responsibility too as the loans were applied using his name.
“I also hope that all financial institutions would tighten up the loan application process to prevent incidents like what Chong has experienced,” he said.
