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Employer seeks help after longtime maid borrows from loan shark, triggering threats and fake COD orders
SINGAPORE: A worried employer sought help on social media after their longtime helper secretly borrowed money from a loan shark.
Posting on the r/asksingapore subreddit on Thursday (Feb 27), the employer shared that their helper, who has been with them “for over 10 years and is basically a member of the family”, took a loan of $XXX from a loan shark without informing them.
“She gave our personal details (address, names) to him as he asked for them when she was taking the loan,” the employer said.
The family only realised what was going on when the loan shark began aggressively calling one of their family members, who had no idea what was happening. It was only then that their helper confessed to what she had done.
“This is her first time doing anything like this, and she didn’t even realise that it was illegal/illicit, and she feels terrible,” the employer continued.
They have since reported the matter to the police, but unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped the loan shark from harassing them.
“The loan shark keeps sending threatening messages to and missed calling my helper/ the family member whose phone number she gave from multiple phones,” she explained.
“Like vile horrible stuff saying ‘I hope you die,’ horrible vulgarities, sending videos of people burning down homes and saying ‘this is gonna happen to you,’ saying he’s gonna send people to our home, etc,” she added.
On top of that, the loan shark keeps sending Lalamove and Grab drivers to their house with cash-on-delivery orders, so these unsuspecting drivers show up expecting payment for items the family never ordered.
“Police has advised us not to pay and to tell the drivers to file a report with Grab/Lalamove, but I feel terrible for them,” she said.
“Has anyone had an experience with anything like this? Can it get physical or violent? My family is a bit scared, given all the threats. Any recommendations based on experience as to what we should do?” she asked the community at the end of her post.
“Please do not pay.”
Singaporean Redditors responded quickly in the comments, firmly warning the employer to “never give in” to the loan shark’s threats.
One said, “Based on my time in NS with the police, please do not pay. Once you start, the loan sharks will know that you are capable of paying and will demand even more money like admin fees, processing fees, extra interest, or whatever they make up.
“If possible, change your phone numbers; this way, the harassment will definitely stop. Just ignore, ignore, and ignore. The only way they can try to get you to pay is if you fear them, so don’t need to stress and get scared about this.”
Another commented, “Please. They don’t even dare to go to your place, which is why they are making prank calls to send delivery people to your house. Be proactive and contact Grab/Lalamove to see if they can block COD transactions with your address. Install a CCTV promptly.”
A third shared their experience, “It happened to me, too. The police advised us not to pay and just block the numbers. They stopped trying to contact us after a while. We also sent the helper back. They never sent anyone down to harass us, either.”
Helpers warned against borrowing from loan sharks
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has warned that it will revoke the work permits of foreign domestic workers who borrow money from unlicensed moneylenders like loan sharks, stressing that it takes a serious view of this issue amidst a rise in such cases.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Manpower pointed out to 8world that if the employer discovers that their maid has borrowed money from an unlicensed moneylender or has run away, they should report the matter to both the police and MOM.
