KUALA LUMPUR: A new extortionist syndicate has emerged and it is relentless – attacking the homes of debtors with petrol bombs. Even pets are not spared.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said two victims, who work in Singapore, fell for the same fake advertisement on Facebook.
He said the syndicate impersonated a licensed Singapore moneylender.
He said though basic personal details were given to check for loan eligibility, the extortionists were able to track down their families in Malaysia, and demand for more money.
The extortionists have since launched petrol bomb attacks on their homes with escalating threats of violence.
According to Chong, these extortionists were different from ah long (loan sharks).
He said they were bold in their threats of violence and refused to reach an agreement with the victims.
“As someone who has helped negotiate for victims against loan sharks for decades, this new syndicate is different and clearly unhinged.
“Even loan sharks can be negotiated with, but this group resorts to violence and continues to extort money from victims no matter how much money is paid.
“They’re bold and record themselves in the attacks – the footage is then sent to the victims. Such acts are also almost unheard of,” he said during a press conference at Wisma MCA here yesterday.
The syndicate even challenges its victims to lodge police reports, he added.
Chong said that he even received a call from the syndicate demanding the new phone number of one of the victims.
Meanwhile, Madam Chung said her son, Tan, was forced to pay S$1,400 (RM4,645) to the extortionists despite not agreeing to take a loan.
“All my son did was give his full name and phone number to an individual named Darren to check for loan eligibility.
“But he then received S$300 (RM995) on March 17 through Paynow Singapore, which allowed money transfer to phone numbers.
“Tan quickly paid back the money along with an extra S$200 (RM664) on March 20 at Darren’s instruction to a bank account. Tan also paid another S$900 (RM2,986) on March 26.
“But they have since continued to threaten us and attack our family home with petrol bombs five times,” said the 63-year-old housewife from Perak at the press conference.
She said on April 2, their pet dog was also attacked and suffered burns, and that Darren had threatened more attacks.
Madam Chin from Seremban said her son had already paid back over S$5,000 (RM16,586) to the extortionists in March this year after borrowing S$900 twice from the scammers in December 2024.
Despite this, the 61-year-old hawker said not only have the extortionists demanded more money to delete their personal details, but also threatened to launch more petrol bomb attacks.
