PONTIAN: A family here is living in fear after a car parked outside of their house was set on fire in the wee hours of the morning last Saturday.
An accountant, who wanted to be known only as Anne, 32, said that she and her family have been harassed by loan sharks since the beginning of this month after her brother attempted to get a loan in Singapore.
“Everyone at home was asleep at that time and I too was about to go to bed when I heard a loud noise coming from outside.
“I later found my sister’s car, which was parked outside the house, on fire. There was also a note left in front of our house, urging us to pay back the money we borrowed.
“We have never taken any loans. My brother attempted to but later found out it was a scam and filed a police report in Singapore instead,” she said at a press conference at the Tanjung Piai Parliament Service centre here.
Anne said that the incident has left the family fearing for their lives, especially as they continued to receive threatening messages.
“They have been sending those threatening messages to all my family members.
“What is even more worrying is that they have all of our MyKad numbers, full name and even photos of everyone at home,” she said.
She added that the family’s plight started on Dec 1 when her brother came across an advertisement of a company offering licensed personal loan on Facebook.
“Initially, my brother wanted to take up a S$10,000 (RM32,700) loan.
“However, after some back and forth with the agent and making several transactions totalling S$6,600 (RM21,600), we realised that we have been scammed.
“The agent made all kinds of excuses to get more money out of my brother, including saying that they did not receive the money he sent,” she said.
She added that she called up the company and was told that the man was not their agent.
“Unfortunately, it did not stop there. A few days later, my brother got a message from another number, claiming that he had applied for another loan.
“He declined the offer but the man was adamant. He banked in S$450 (RM1,472,) into my brother’s bank account and asked to pay back S$800 (RM2,618).
“To avoid any problems, we abided and paid the money before blocking the number. We thought that was the end of it but the harassment continued and we kept on getting threat messages,” she said, adding a police report on the fire was filed at the Pekan Nanas police station on Dec 10.
Meanwhile, Johor MCA public complaints bureau member Heng Zhi Li, who arranged the press conference, hoped that the police could investigate the matter soon.
Pontian OCPD Supt Mohammad Shofee Tayib confirmed that the police have received the family’s report.
