SINGAPORE: After discovering that her own uncle and auntie took advantage of her grandmother, a 25-year-old woman turned to social media to ask for help.
“I have a Grandmother who is being financially abused by my maternal aunty and uncle. They treat her like a walking ATM and borrowed thousands of dollars from her amounting to 90k until she has only 1.5k left in her bank!” the woman wrote on NUSWhispers Facebook page on Tuesday (April 23).
“What should I do in this case? Should I Report my greedy gold digging uncle to the police? Will the police be able to punish him?”
In her post, the woman also revealed that, despite her grandmother confiding in all of the family’s elders, none of them dared to speak up and confront her uncle “because they were afraid of him.”
The situation became even more personal for the woman when her aunt and uncle attempted to borrow $9,000 from her for their son’s wedding.
“I refused to lend them and after 1 year in 2024, my uncle still be sarcastic and said to my dad “woah she can spend on her cats but can’t even lend her own uncle 9k”.”
After failing to obtain money from her, her uncle turned to her grandmother and requested S$4,000.
Although they claimed to repay it later using money from the wedding, the woman discovered that her uncle had retrieved it without her grandmother’s consent.
Adding to the family’s troubles, her uncle also pestered her mother to give her all the gold jewellery she had.
“This elder financial abuse or exploitation been happening before I was even born and I am 25 years old. My aunt claimed she does not know of her husband’s wrongdoing, but I am sure she is complicit.”
“You are simply going to ruin the relationship”
In the comments section, netizens advised her to proceed cautiously when dealing with such messy family affairs. They warned her about the risks of publicly calling out her uncle or trying to play the hero.
They mentioned that this could upset older family members, drag her parents into the mess, and lead her grandma to deny any wrongdoing “in order to save face.”
One netizen asked, “You really think you are helping your grandma by exposing your uncle? You are simply going to ruin the relationship… She is getting old, she doesn’t need the money… She probably only want to see her son.
So learn to spare a thought for your grandma… Not everything you think is right, is right.”
While another commented, “Where did you get your degree? Your grandma wasn’t forced or her money wasn’t stolen. She gave them out of her own will. Report police??? This is a domestic affair. You decide what you can do or not do.”
On the other hand, some considered how important this could be for the woman and said she could try gathering all the evidence and calling out her uncle in front of all the family members.
One netizen said, “Treat everyone to family dinner and when they turn up, evidence time. Make sure other patrons have popcorn.”
Another suggested, “If you really want to go all the way, probably can seek legal advice with the aim of determining whether your grandmother gave it of her own free will, if that can be legally established even in the first case.
But it will be a long way before any money is returned.”