Victims approached by loan shark ‘managers’ in new scam tactic
KUALA LUMPUR: As if borrowing money from loan sharks isn’t stressful enough, a new wave of scammers are now targeting the borrowers of these illicit lenders.
One such victim, a 36-year old, who wanted to be known as Ah Chung, lost RM1,000 to one such scammer after borrowing money for personal use.
Ah Chung had borrowed RM2,000 from a loan shark, named Lee, on July 25 when the latter suddenly offered to lend him money via a text message.
Ah Chung paid back RM1,000 to Lee shortly after July 27 but he received a demand for RM10,000 to be paid at 6pm on the same day, or his and his family’s details would be exposed online.
Ah Chung lodged a police report on Aug 1 against Lee, at which point he received a suspicious call on Aug 2 from someone named “Samuel”, who claimed to be Lee’s manager.
“Samuel claimed that the police investigator in charge of my case had requested us to settle it,” Ah Chung told reporters at Wisma MCA here yesterday.
“Samuel then told me to pay the remaining RM2,000 debt I owed to Lee, which included a previously agreed upon RM1,000 interest.”
Ah Chung transferred RM1,000 to a bank account provided by Samuel the next day. But he continued receiving calls from Lee about his old debt.
Lee repeatedly claimed that he did not know who Samuel was and that he had not received any payment from Ah Chung.
After seeking help from MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong, Ah Chung and Lee met for a discussion at Chong’s office on Aug 6.
Samuel was also invited to attend it but he did not show up despite all parties waiting for hours. Ah Chung finally settled his RM2,000 debt with Lee at the same meeting.
In a similar case, Lau, a 52-year- old housewife, received a call from someone claiming to be a loan shark’s “manager” who attempted to extort the family.
Lau had settled her daughter’s RM150,000 loan shark debt in 2023 but was surprised when she received a message from someone claiming to be the loan shark’s manager on Aug 5.
Using a similar script, the “manager”, who said his name was Mike, claimed that the family still owed RM1,250 and threatened to expose the family’s details online if they did not pay up.
Lau then reached out to Chong for help, who then tried to arrange a meeting between Lau and Mike on Aug 13, but the latter did not show.
Chong believes that these recent cases are likely part of a new sophisticated scam tactic done by either the same person or group.
“At first, we thought this could have been part of the loan sharks’ new tactics to further extort money.
“But seeing as to how Lee was willing to meet with us to settle the issue while Samuel did not, it’s clear that these scammers may be operating independently.
“The way these scammers spoke was also full of authority and professionalism, akin to a real manager, which is not something common among loan sharks,” Chong added.
