All because of one mis-click by his son, a businessman found his store in Melaka being set ablaze by a group of loan sharks who claimed that his son had borrowed money from them.
According to Sin Chew Daily, the unfortunate incident began to unfold on Aug 2, when Xu Rongqing (transliteration) received a phone call from a Singaporean number, with the caller claiming that his son had borrowed S$700 (approx. RM2,300) from two loan sharks and threatened to burn his store if the money wasn’t repaid.
Loan sharks set M’sian man’s store on fire after son clicked on FB ad
After getting the call, Xu contacted his son and asked whether he had borrowed money from loan sharks.
According to his son, he had clicked on a loan ad on Facebook but denied borrowing any money. Xu’s son also added that he received a text message by a person who said money was deposited into his bank account by mistake and asked for it to be returned.
However, Xu’s son didn’t respond and blocked the sender. He also told his father that it was a scam and urged him to call the police. Unfortunately, Xu didn’t heed him and brushed it off.
On Aug 5 at around 1.50am, I heard a loud noise coming from my store and when my wife and I opened the window, we saw that the front of the store was on fire.
Based on CCTV footage, an unknown man is seen pouring what is believed to be gasoline across several tables at Xu’s store before setting it on fire.
Harassed by loan sharks
According to Xu, he lives at the store with his wife and 91-year-old father. Shortly after the fire, he got a call from a man claiming to be one behind the fire and asking for S$5,000 (approx. RM16,800) in exchange to be left alone in peace.
After transferring RM9,500, Xu got another call from a different person days later, who claimed to be from the second group of loan sharks and told him to hand over S$2,500 (approx. RM8,400) or have acid thrown at him.
Realising that there was no end to his misery, Xu contacted the police and went to seek help from Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong. His son later lodged a police report in Singapore over the incident as well.
MP calls for authorities to intervene
Khoo, who eventually met up with Xu, told the Chinese daily that the case had evolved from a fraud to a criminal case.
As such, I urge the authorities to collaborate closely with Singaporean authorities to combat transnational crime as well set up a cross-departmental action committee to deal with such issues.
“Furthermore, the loan sharks now have the identity card numbers and photos of Xu and his entire family so this data leak must be investigated,” he said.
Khoo also called upon the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to probe online loan ads and urged Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to hunt down those behind the case.
He added that he will raise the matter in Parliament and push the government to enact laws that will effectively deal with such incidents.
READ ALSO:
