Spiral of despair: Ng (left) with the victim showing evidence of the ordeal the latter encountered.
JOHOR BARU: A woman thought she had made a new friend online only to fall prey to years of harassment and extortion. At one point, the woman, known only as Wong, was even forced to become a runner for a loan shark.
The 28-year-old clerk, who works in Singapore, said she became friends with a man via Facebook in June 2021.
“The man introduced himself as a Chinese national working in the finance industry. After a while, he suggested that I join him in an online investment scheme.
“To gain my trust, he gave me access to his investment account on a mobile app, which was actually an online gambling platform.
“After much convincing, I decided to give it a go by staking small amounts of money like S$5 (RM17) and S$10 (RM34) which I was able to get back.
“I then placed S$750 (RM2,578) into my account and this was when things took a bad turn,” she said during a press conference called by the Johor MCA Public Complaints and Services Bureau here yesterday.
The man, she claimed, told her to place a minimum of S$10,000 (RM34,374) to “unlock” a new level in the app to get her money back, adding that he convinced her to take up a loan for it.
Wong said while searching for a money lender online, she found one that she thought was legitimate and submitted her personal details, including her home address.
“I did not want to go ahead with the application and the Ah Long told me to pay a S$250 (RM859) fee or risk having my family home in Perak burnt down.
“After paying him the amount, he continued to extort me. I had to borrow money from my friends and relatives to pay him off,” she said, adding that she paid the Ah Long about S$10,000 in total.
Wong said she got a loan from another group of loan sharks, borrowing S$1,000 (RM3,438) but only receiving S$650 (RM2,234).
“After paying off the amount in full, I thought I could live my life in peace. In April last year, the Ah Long contacted me again through WhatsApp claiming that I still owed him money,” she said.
Wong said when she refused to entertain his request, the Ah Long sent someone to set fire to her relative’s house in Perak.
“I told him that I cannot afford to give him more money and he told me to work for him as a runner in Singapore to pay off my debt. I had no choice but to follow his instructions out of fear for my family’s safety.
“The Ah Long would send me to secluded locations such as a dark parking lot to collect money from a stranger before passing it to another stranger.
“After about five of such errands, I told him I wanted to stop as I had paid him more than $S9,000 (RM30,949) in total,” Wong said, adding that she had also lodged a police report in Singapore about her ordeal.
Wong said she finally had enough when the Ah Long harassed her again on Tuesday by setting fire to her parents’ house in Perak. She contacted Johor MCA public complaints bureau committee member Joan Ng Geok Yin for help.
Ng advised the public against falling for online gambling schemes that were marketed as investment schemes.
“Never give money to such schemes or Ah Long syndicates because they are endless pits in harassing victims for money.
“In this year alone, I have received over 20 such cases, mostly from young men and women,” she said, adding that she would contact the police to help Wong.
