KUALA LUMPUR: A fed-up father has publicly severed ties with his son after enduring a decade of persistent harassment by loan sharks, brought on by the young man's unrelenting gambling addiction.
Speaking at a press conference organized by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department on Wednesday (Sept 30), department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong recalled meeting the father, identified as Loi, 58, ten years ago under similar circumstances.
“About ten years ago, Loi came to me for help. Back then, he said he would settle his son’s debts on the condition that the loan sharks slapped his son in front of him to teach him a lesson,” Chong said.
“They did so. But clearly, the son has not changed his ways.”
Loi revealed that over the past decade, he has bailed his son out on more than eight occasions, sinking approximately RM300,000 into clearing his debts.
The tipping point came earlier this month when Loi received threatening WhatsApp messages from loan sharks warning that they would set his house on fire if outstanding debts were not paid.
Loi's ordeal was echoed by another desperate parent at the press conference, 51-year-old Yeow, whose son accrued RM183,750 in debt after borrowing from at least 13 illegal moneylenders.
“On Sept 25, we received messages from loan sharks threatening to cut off his hands and burn down my house if the debts were unpaid. They even threatened to kidnap other family members,” Yeow said.
Yeow further alleged that the loan sharks hacked her mobile phone and used voice-cloning technology to impersonate her, attempting to trick relatives into revealing her and her son’s locations. In another scare tactic, the loan sharks padlocked the gates of a property Yeow had already sold six years ago.
Commenting on the alarming trend, Chong disclosed that his department has received roughly 300 reports involving loan sharks and "scammer ah longs" since the beginning of the year—already matching the total number of cases recorded throughout all of 2025.
“And the year is not over yet. There will be more,” Chong warned.
In response to the growing crisis, Chong said he has instructed his legal team to explore proposals that would make serial borrowers directly accountable under the law.
“As you can see, when they borrow, they drag their families into nightmare situations. We want to explore legal avenues to hold these borrowers criminally responsible,” Chong said.
“There are plenty of legal avenues to borrow money, yet they intentionally choose this path. It is not as if they are unaware of the dangerous consequences, yet they do it anyway.”
