KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian man has made it his mission to tear down loan shark advertisements scattered along the roadsides in Ipoh, Perak after his painful experience of falling into a debt trap.
M. Vikram Naidu, 25, shared that he had borrowed RM2,000 from a loan shark during a tough time in his life, but ended up with a debt burden of RM20,000 due to a high interest rate and late payment fees of RM24 per hour.
The security guard said he needed the money to resolve some issues so that he could begin working in Singapore.
"From when I was single until I was married, I could not repay the debt. And my RM4,000 to RM5,000 monthly salary while working in Singapore was used up to pay the ah long (loan shark).
"In fact, my rental house in Skudai, Johor at that time was also often visited by people who wanted to collect debt. If I didn't pay or was late, they would threaten me, which eventually caused my house to be damaged," Harian Metro reported him as saying.
Vikram, who took three years to repay his debt, has now dedicated himself to preventing others from suffering the same fate.
"Many also complained to me that they were often harassed by ah long, with some splashing red paint and throwing eggs to scare them.
"I have also seen many posters of this offer (loan shark advertisements) around the city, which will cause desperate people to borrow money that will end up troubling them.
"So, as long as the posters are still there, it is possible that people will continue to be trapped (in debt cycles)."
He added that he is now afraid of taking a loan.
He further said he is aware that people are often hesitant to report incidents of harassment by loan sharks to the police.
"All those posters were put up without permission and they're still there. So, I took them down myself because it's obviously wrong.
"I believe that if many people support this initiative, all the (loan shark) banners all over Ipoh can be cleared.
"I am also ready to help those who are being harassed by ah long," he told Harian Metro.
Vikram went viral earlier this month for posting multiple videos of himself tearing down loan shark banners in Ipoh on his TikTok account, @vikramnaidu4488.
One of the videos garnered over 2.2 million views. In the video, he claimed that he received a call from a loan shark threatening to harm him, but Vikram stressed he is determined "to clean the streets of Ipoh", making them free of loan shark ads.
In a recent video, Vikram had claimed that the police had refused to accept his police report due to security reason.
Meanwhile, on April 30, Ipoh police chief Assistant Commissioner Yahaya Hassan said in a statement that police had found the 35-second viral video uploaded by Twitter user @nanmanjoi8715. https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2023/04/904438/police-conduct-i...
He said the case had been referred to the Ipoh district police's Integrity and Standards Compliance division for an internal investigation.
He also advised the public not to speculate on the content of the video as it could affect the internal probe or cause uneasiness among the public.