Loan sharks demand more despite victim repaying six times initial loan

KUALA LUMPUR: An IT executive learnt the hard way about relying on loan sharks for quick cash

Yap Wai Fong said he had repaid almost six times his original loan sum after borrowing RM12,000 from four different loan shark companies.

Despite already repaying RM70,000, the loan sharks are still demanding more.

“After giving me the agreed sum, the lone sharks continued more transfers into my bank account and employment bank account without my permission,” said Yap.

Then, the loan sharks demanded repayment of his original loan sum and the additional sum, along with late repayment fines.

“I was in a bad state as my wife was very sick, and my children were misbehaving. I saw a lot of Facebook advertisements for loans. When I inquired, they promised a credible and transparent process,” said Yap during a press conference held by MCA Public Services and Complaint Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong at Wisma MCA on Jan 26.

Yap has lodged a police report and closed or frozen his bank accounts to stop the loan sharks from transferring more money into them.

Three more victims of the loan sharks were also present at the press conference.

Retiree Lee Yin, 75, said eight different moneylenders had harassed him.

He claimed his son, who left home four years ago, had borrowed from the loan sharks.

“The loan sharks keep demanding money from us, but we don’t know how much money was owed and how much to pay,” said Lee Yin’s daughter, who accompanied him.

The family also claimed that just 24 hours after making a police report, the loan sharks learned about it and threatened them further, making them more fearful.

Meanwhile, Chong expressed dismay over the rising cases early in the year.

“It hasn’t been a month, and we have already received 21 cases involving more than RM1.7mil, of which 16 are Chinese individuals. In 2023, we received over 300 cases involving RM21mil in total, and 271 cases were Chinese individuals,” he said.