KUALA LUMPUR: A senior administrative executive is living in fear after a moneylender threatened to burn down his home due to money owed by his son.
T. Ganeshkumar, 59, said the clip of a man burning a house came to his son’s handphone, which was forwarded to him in June.
“Earlier on June 21, my front gate was chained and painted red.
“There was a notice demanding for a loan apparently taken by my son who is in Singapore. There was a telephone number which led to a man who called himself ‘Charlie’. I lodged a police report at Petaling Jaya and asked Charlie to provide me documents to prove the claim. He only said that I needed to pay up the amount owed. The bank account number given is from a local bank.
“Charlie claimed that he was a Singaporean ah long. The number that he called from wasn’t local,“ Ganeshkumar said at a press conference held today at the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department.
At 6.30am on June 25, Ganeshkumar said the same thing happened at his home.
“Our security camera detected a black car in front of my house. A man got out and sprayed my gate. My family and I opened the gate and tried to chase him away. If my son did borrow money why come for me?”
The moneylender claimed that his son, who has worked as a security guard had been detained in Changi prison, and owed RM17,000 (SG$ 5,900).
In the second case, Lee Kok Wai, said he had also received a clip from a moneylender who threatened to burn his house.
Lee said that he had wanted to borrow RM10,000 to set up an online business. He first saw a loan advertisement and contacted the lender who called himself “Henry”.
“I gave my personal details via WhatsApp and an account number. Henry said that my application was approved and on the same day I was given RM1,500. I wanted to return the money but was told instead to pay 10 instalments totalling RM2,225. I paid for five days and then Henry demanded RM7,500.”
Lee added when he refused to pay he received two threats via text messages. He lodged a police report on June 25.
Both men have appealed to Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong for help.
Chong said this month alone there were 258 money lending related cases involving up to RM26 million being loaned.
