Maid borrows money from loanshark for “extra income” but employer gets harassed & scolded vulgarities as well

After their foreign domestic worker got involved with loansharks, her employers were not spared either. The woman’s employers were harassed with multiple missed calls and video calls.

A moderator of the Facebook group FDW in Singapore (working conditions forum) Eliz Llanillo shared earlier in the year that her friend (an employer) told her that they were being harassed by loansharks because of their helper who borrowed money. 

Ms Eliz wrote: “Can we think that this is our Ricebowl and we should takecre (sic) [o]f this job. This is where we get the food to feed and provide to (sic) our family and for the future”.

In an update, Ms Eliz shared a screenshot of the police report the family made, as well as an email from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). In her police report, the helper said that the loanshark “kept giving my employer missed calls/video calls and prompting my employer to pick up his calls, call the police, scolding vulgarities to my employer and send a screenshot of my full details”.

The helper, who had been working in Singapore for 5 years, wrote that she was with her current employer for about 5 months.  She said: “This is the first time that I tried to request for a loan and I am aware that the person I was dealing with is a loan shark”. The helper added that she also did not have any financial difficulties and just wanted extra income.

In the email from MOM, the ministry said that it takes a “serious view on moneylending activities and will also be imposing administrative penalties on migrant domestic workers (MDWs) who borrow from unlicensed moneylenders”. The helper was also placed on an employment ban because she had borrowed from unlicensed moneylenders.

Here’s what netizens said:

TISG has reached out to Ms Eliz for comment and clarification.