Loan Sharks charging up to 300 percent interest: Michael Chong

KUALA LUMPUR: Loan sharks are now targeting family members and friends of those who have borrowed money and will go to great lengths to get their money back.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong who was speaking on the matter today said that loan sharks or "Ah Longs" are getting more notorious these days.
"They are not asking for the principal loan amount back anymore, they are asking for the interest which is non-negotiable. The interest could sometimes skyrocket from 200 to 300%. So, if you are taking a loan for RM10,000, you may end up paying them RM20,000 to RM30,000 back," he said at a press conference at his offices here today.
Chin Hock Peng, 51, who works as a waiter at a Chinese restaurant is one such victim of loan shark harassment.
His 23-year-old son had borrowed almost RM14,500 from two different loan sharks and another undisclosed amount from a third loan shark.
Chin then threw his son out of the house and disowned him, but the loan sharks have been harassing Chin for over a month now.
"They had threatened him, publicly shamed him by throwing flyers of his son's face and IC number in the neighbourhood and had also locked his house gate while he was at work. The first time they did it, he managed to break the lock. The second time they locked him out, they had put candle wax in the hole so that he couldn't break the lock," he said.
A grief-stricken Chin pleaded with the loan sharks to leave him alone and go after his son.
"Please do not disturb me, my son is the one who took the loans. I have disowned him. I only earn RM1,400 a month, how am I going to pay his debt off? He said.
In another case, a 54-year-old teacher who only wanted to be referred to as Madam Wong said she had been duped by an online "Love Scam" and had given almost RM200,000 to a man she met online.
In order to give this mystery man money, she had taken loans from loan sharks.
As she was unable to meet the unreasonable interest they demanded, the loan sharks started harassing her friends.
"They would call some of my friends from 7 to 10 times a day demanding that I pay the money back using foul language," she said.
Chong said that he had asked the Ah Longs to reduce the interest for Wong, but they would not budge.
"This is how brave they have become, they don't want to budge and they are targeting innocent victims instead of the ones who took the loans," he said.
Chong said that this year alone up till today, his department has received 101 cases involving loan sharks amounting to more than RM7 million.
"80% of our loan shark cases come from the Chinese community," he added.