KUALA LUMPUR: A singer has been hounded by loansharks, with threats to kidnap her if she failed to pay back her loan with interest.
The 39-year-old singer, who wished to be known only as Yee, told a press conference organised by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong at his office here on Thursday (May 7) that she received a message from what she thought was a licensed moneylender in April.
Yee had intended to borrow about RM45,000 however, only received RM17,800.
"I then suspected that I was being scammed but I needed the finances. I had also submitted my personal information to them at this point," she said.
In May, she began receiving demands to pay back the loan with unreasonable interest.
She said she made all repayments on time but still complied to avoid further issues.
"Although she only received RM17,800 and had already repaid RM20,300, the scammers still insisted on a payment of RM49,400 to completely settle the loan," Chong added.
He said the scammers then threatened to kidnap her if she did not pay.
"They also uploaded social media posts shaming her and her family. Threats to kidnap were also made, as well as those to burn her house down," he said.
A police report was made soon after the threats, but the scammers found out about it.
"They said, 'You think you can lodge a report, that means you can run away?' They also said they had strong connections to a so-called Datuk Seri," he said, adding that he doubted this was true.
Chong said the victim lodged a complaint with his department as she wanted the record to show that she was a victim and not a con artist as alleged in posts by the scammers.
"She just wants to earn an honest living. She just made a mistake when she dealt with this scammer," he said.
In a related matter, Chong said he met Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa last week for a meeting over the rising number of complaints he had received involving loansharks who were also scammers.
He added that he hoped strong police action would be taken against these scammers.
