Worrying situation: Chong (seated, second from left) speaking at a press conference on loan shark cases, held at Wisma MCA, Kuala Lumpur. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: A 63-year-old man has disowned his daughter after she accumulated debts of approximately RM250,000 from unlicensed money lenders or ah long.
Lan Chee Kong said his family has been subjected to harassment by these lenders, who have been demanding repayment of the loans taken by his daughter since 2023.
“I confronted my daughter at her home to understand why the ah long were harassing us.
“It was then that I discovered she had shared my identity card details with them,” Lan said during a press conference at Wisma MCA here yesterday.
Lan has been trying to repay the debt since last December, using his savings from the Employees Provident Fund and borrowing from relatives.
Despite his daughter’s promise to cease borrowing, she continued to take loans.
In a twist, Lan’s daughter filed a police report against him, alleging harassment. Unable to continue repaying her debts, Lan decided to sever ties with her.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Bureau chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong said at least 42 cases of loan shark extortion had been reported to the bureau since January.
He cautioned the public against borrowing from unlicensed moneylenders.
“Only borrow from regulated and licensed lenders, as most ah long will resort to extortion if repayments are not met,” Chong warned.
He also said the loan sharks would usually threaten the victims by exposing their personal details and marring their reputation on social media.
The press conference also highlighted the plight of another victim, a 50-year-old man who identified himself as Lai.
He said ah long had advertised his stepdaughter as a sex worker on social media after her estranged biological father failed to repay a RM9,000 loan.
Lai said that on Feb 10, two groups of loan sharks began harassing their family, threatening them with photos of drugs and plans to visit their home.
His stepdaughter has since filed three police reports at the Puchong police station.
In a separate incident, a 50-year-old man named Chin was conned by a man posing as a middleman, named “Datuk Lim”.
Chin transferred RM26,000, including a RM1,000 “service charge”, in the belief that Lim would settle his debts with five different ah long.
Despite the payments, the loan sharks continued their demands. Chin later discovered that Lim had deceived him with fake bank transfers.
Chin, who owns an IT service company, said he took the loans to help his business stay afloat.
Meanwhile, another victim, Lee, said a moneylender displayed his identity card in his office after he refused to pay an unreasonable repayment amount.
It is learned that he applied to borrow RM3,000 and received RM2,050 last November.
Even after making a repayment totalling RM2,250, Lee said the loan shark still demanded another RM1,800 as a “settlement”.
He said this amount was unreasonable and refused to pay.
Lee also claimed that the lenders hacked into his phone and threatened to reach out to his contact lists if he failed to make the additional payment.
