Thursday, June 08, 2006

[RealEdge] TodayOnline : Now, loansharks spam debtors' neighbours


  This story was printed from TODAYonline
 
 
  Now, loansharks spam debtors' neighbours

Thursday • June 8, 2006

Ansley Ng
ansley@newstoday.com.sg

TWO weeks ago, taxi driver Philip Toh opened his letterbox and found a brown envelope lying inside. Typewritten in Chinese and broken English, the letter, written by someone called "Ah Soon", warned that his gate would be locked and paint would be spilled on his door.

It was not as if Mr Toh, who lives on the ninth floor of a Hougang Avenue 7 flat, owed the loanshark money. But one of his neighbours on the 10th floor apparently did. To put pressure on the man to pay up, the loanshark mass-mailed his threat to all residents who lived within a floor of him.

This is not the only recent case where a loanshark has dragged in a debtor's neighbours and threatened them with locks and paint to arm-twist his real target.

Over the last few weeks, residents in Clementi, Ang Mo Kio and Bukit Panjang have also received similar letters.

In each case, the letter carries the same message and words of threat, suggesting it could be the same loanshark using this technique in different parts of the island. The only thing to distinguish the letters in different neighbourhoods is the name and address of the debtor.

The threatening letters are accompanied by hell bank notes – burnt by the Chinese during prayers as offerings to the netherworld – as well as a mobile phone number, which presumably belongs to the loanshark. The debtor's neighbours have been invited to call 'Ah Soon' should they spot the debtor.

Sources pointed out that the phone number could have been registered using the identity card of a debtor to conceal the loanshark's real identity.

When Today visited the flat of the debtor – a fishmonger who is said to have borrowed as much as $40,000 to settle gambling debts – he was not at home. Neighbours have not spotted him for some time but his gate and the walls of his flat have been vandalised with paint.

The letters have evoked mixed reactions among those getting dragged into disputes between their neighbours and loansharks.

Said Ms Tan GH, 46, a businesswoman living in Bukit Panjang: "I wake up every morning wondering if my door has been locked. I wonder what will happen if they really carry out the threat. This is affecting a lot of innocent people."

Similarly, Mr Guan Teck Seng, whose mother have received a letter – also from Ah Soon – at her Ang Mo Kio block, has asked several of his brothers to take turns staying at her house.

"These people are capable of anything. Remember what happened to the woman who suffered a miscarriage after a loanshark pushed her?" said Mr Guan.

Other residents have turned to the police for help.

One of them, Lim Sui Yon, a businessman who lives in Clementi West Street 2, said he and several other neighbours had made separate police reports.

"I would catch them if I could, but I don't have the power," said Mr Lim, 60.

The police, however, warned the public against confronting the loansharks or their runners.

"The affected residents and their neighbours can help the police with their vigilance and expeditious reporting and descriptions of suspicious persons in the neighbourhood and unlicensed moneylending activities," said police spokesman Assistant Superintendent Victor Keong. "However, they should not put themselves at risk of harm in any way in the course of doing so."

In at least three major police swoops this year, 80 people were arrested between January and March for unlicensed moneylending activities.

The number of reports complaining of harassment by loansharks has also increased. In the first three months of this year, police received 2,520 reports. For the same period last year, there were 1,444 reports of harassment.

Yesterday, Ah Soon was not answering the phone number he had offered so brazenly. But Mr Toh, the Hougang resident, said that one of his neighbour's had called the loanshark recently.

"When asked why was he doing this to us, he laughed and said, 'bo bian lah (Hokkien for no choice)'," said Mr Toh.
 
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// posted by Shajahan @ 10:33 AM


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