JOHOR BARU: A RM500 loan has turned the life of a 38-year-old man here into turmoil, as he has lost over RM16,650, his job and his peace of mind.<\/p>\n
G. Vincent, 38, said his ordeal began when he took out a RM500 loan from a seemingly legitimate moneylending company in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife and I are expecting our first child, and I want to give them a comfortable home for a fresh beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided to buy a house, but was short of some money for the deposit. That was when I reached out to the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked for a RM1,500 loan, but they gave me RM500 instead, and I was later told to pay RM2,000 within three days,\u201d he said at a press conference organised by the Johor Bersatu associate wing public complaints bureau chief Lim Thow Siang.<\/p>\n
He said he later began receiving calls and messages from several other loan sharks, who offered to lend him money to pay off his initial debt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would call multiple times a day to offer me more loans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt left me with little time to think things through, and I later found myself trapped in a cycle of borrowing and repaying more loans.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when I refused to take up the loans, they would still deposit the money into my bank account and demand that I pay back two to three times more within just a few days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vincent said that despite repeatedly paying off the loan sharks, they continued to demand more, claiming that he still had unpaid debts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey even called my family members, warning them that they would be harmed if I did not pay the debts, which I had already settled.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey also called my employer, causing me to lose my job as a mechanic in Singapore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not know what else to do. I am also very worried about my wife, who is now six months pregnant,\u201d he said, adding that he had filed a police report at the Chaah police station on Dec 15.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Lim said this was one of the techniques loan sharks have been using to keep their victims stuck in a cycle of borrowing more money to pay off initial loans.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if they pay back, the loan sharks often claim that there are more payments that need to be made, and the interest would continue growing higher as time passed by.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is best not to borrow any money from loan sharks to begin with, but for those who have already fallen into the trap, they could reach out to us for assistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, when contacted, a police official confirmed that they have received a report about the matter.<\/p>\n
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