Woman harassed by loan shark syndicate despite not receiving loan

JOHOR BARU: A loan shark syndicate has been harassing a woman for almost two months despite not lending her any money.

The victim, who only wanted to be known as Chan, said she came across an advertisement on Facebook offering financial loan assistance based in Singapore with a low interest rate on May 10.

“I then contacted the Singapore number listed on the advertisement through WhatsApp. Soon, a man contacted me, saying he was in charge of the loan.

“I told him I wanted to apply for a S$3,000 (RM10,468) loan. He then told me to give him my details, such as MyKad, my Singapore work permit, and my house address.

“He then sent me the agreement document telling me to sign it to get my loan, which I did without reading through it,” she added.

Chan said this at a press conference organised by Johor Jaya, assemblyman special officer Lee Wern Yiing, at the service centre here on Saturday (July 6).

She added that after signing her name on the document, the man told her that the money had been transferred into her bank account, but after checking, she found that the money had not been in yet.

Chan said she told the man that the bank account listed in the agreement document was not hers, but the man did not want to listen and told her to cough up SGD4,500(RM15,702) as a cancellation fee.

“He warned me that if I did not pay the money to them, they would go to my house to harass me and my family as well as my workplace, including putting it on social media.

“I borrowed some money from my friends to pay the cancellation fee, but they continue to harass me, claiming that I still owe them money.

“On July 1, they even threw a petrol bomb at my family’s house, and they left a message saying I owed them money,” she said, adding that she has lodged police reports here and in Singapore following the harassment.

When contacted, Seri Alam OCPD Supt Mohd Sohaimi Ishak confirmed the victim's reports and said that investigations were underway to find the suspects.