Moneylender transfers $600 into stranger’s bank account, demands that she pay him $800 in 5 days time

Facebook user Kym Tan Meiting was surprised to receive a bank transfer of $600 into her bank account by an unknown individual and even more surprised when she found out that the person who transferred the money to her was an alleged legal moneylender.

Curiously, Kym had not approached any such moneylender for a loan and had not made her personal bank account details publicly available.

Kym contacted the person who had transferred the money and had sent her a screenshot of the payment, as she wanted to credit the money back to them. The moneylender then told her that he cannot take the money back and that Kym must pay him a shocking $800 in five days.

The bewildered netizen shared online:

“pls share and create awareness of this. recently theres one idiot that out of nowhere transfer $600 into my acc. and then i receive a msg that say ‘thank you for supporting us’ with the payment screenshot below

“i reply back, who are u i dunno u. why u transfer money to me. he then became aggressive say i loan from them. i say sorry i dunno u and i dun need ur $600, u give me ur acc no i transfer bk u ur money. he say he cannot take back the money anymore and demand that i must pay $800 back in 5 days.”

Another Facebook user, Michelle Tan, appears to have subsequently reached out to Kym and claimed that an employee of the moneylending business had run away with company funds and a company phone and had misused the funds by transferring it into Kym’s account.

Tan requested Kym to transfer the money back into her account.

Kym instead added the man who transferred the money into her account and Tan into a WhatsApp chat group. Interestingly, both moneylenders proceeded to quarrel amongst themselves over the matter:

While it is unclear whether Kym has made a police report, transferred the $600 back or is still expected to pay $800, it is certainly troubling that her bank account details were shared and misused without her authorisation.

Meanwhile, another Facebook user shared Kym’s post and added that her friend experienced outrageous demands from another legal moneylender as well.

The netizen, Zarina Jaffar, shared that her friend had reached out to a legal moneylender who promised her an attractive interest rate and instructed her to make a bank transfer of $500 to loan $5000.

Once Zarina’s friend made the transfer, the moneylender began asking her for more money. Zarina found this odd and stopped her friend, instructing her to inform the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) with the entire WhatsApp chat proof.

When Zarina’s friend tried to cancel the agreement and asked for her $500 back, the moneylender allegedly blocked her on the messaging application.

Zarina noted that what happened to Kym could become common when companies can easily purchase individuals’ personal information on the market:

“PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS LIGHTLY! I am sharing this cause it happen to a 3R member who confided in me. For her its with a legal money lender. They promised her a very attractive interest rate and told her to make a trnsf of $500 upfront and that is all she needs to pay them for a loan of $5000. Once she made the trnsf, they ask her for more. I stopped her and told her to inform MAS with all WA proof. When she wants her $500 back she was blocked.”