KUALA LUMPUR: A woman and her family have been living in constant fear after being relentlessly harassed by loan sharks, who extorted payments far beyond the original loan amount.
According to Sin Chew Daily, the loan sharks even threatened to burn down the family's home after failing to receive further repayments.
In a press conference organised by Wisma MCA Perak yesterday, a woman who would like to be known as Chin revealed that her family's home had been hit with arson attacks twice by loan sharks due to her son's involvement in illegal online loans.
The criminals even went as far as sending her videos of the arson attacks to intimidate them.
Chin explained that her son, who would like to be known as Feng, initially tried to borrow SGD3,000 (RM9,890) through an online loan platform in October.
However, the loan sharks only transferred SGD500 to him and demanded an additional SGD 700 as an administrative fee. Suspicious of their intentions, he refused to comply and returned the SGD500 immediately.
Despite this, the loan sharks insisted the transaction must proceed and began incessantly harassing him with phone calls.
When Feng blocked their contacts, they turned their attention to Chin, using the personal information provided during the loan application to harass her instead.
On Nov 15, at around 3am, the loan sharks carried out their threats by throwing petrol bombs at the family's home, burning one of their cars.
At the time, the house was occupied by Chin's parents and younger brother.
Panicking after the attack, Chin contacted the lenders in an attempt to resolve the matter. They then extorted her for RM31,200, claiming the amount included administrative fees and "arson costs."
Desperate, Chin managed to gather the money within a day and transferred it in six instalments to two unknown bank accounts.
However, the harassment did not stop. The next day, Mrs Chin began receiving more phone calls demanding additional payments.
On Dec 12, at around midnight, another arson attack occurred.
This time, the fire affected her neighbours as well. Two neighbouring households lost two cars and one motorcycle, while Chin's family lost another car in the incident.
Chin reported the matter to the police, who have since launched an investigation and arrested several suspects.
Due to the fear of further attacks and to avoid implicating her employer, Chin resigned from her job in Singapore and returned to Malaysia. Her family home is now uninhabitable due to a burnt electrical meter, forcing her family to temporarily relocate.
She shared that she now receives seven to eight calls daily from different numbers, harassing her day and night. She said the constant fear of another arson attack, especially one that might endanger her elderly neighbours, has left her unable to sleep.