Believing they were dealing with legitimate moneylenders in Singapore, two men from separate families have unwittingly subjected their loved ones to relentless harassment and petrol bomb attacks—one of which even injured a family dog.
At a press conference at Wisma MCA on Monday (April 7), MCA Public Services and Complaints Bureau chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong described the extortionists behind the attacks as brazen and violent, noting their refusal to negotiate or stop their demands despite victims making payments.
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At a press conference at Wisma MCA on Monday (April 7), MCA Public Services and Complaints Bureau chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong described the extortionists behind the attacks as brazen and violent, noting their refusal to negotiate or stop their demands despite victims making payments.
Read more at https://tinyurl.com/j2n5zvwf
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
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NewsTranscript
00:00A new extortionist syndicate has emerged, and it is relentless, attacking the homes
00:12of borrowers with petrol bombs. Even pets are not spared.
00:17At a press conference on Monday together with the victims' family members, MCA Public
00:22Services and Complaints Department Head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said the two victims, who
00:27are currently working in Singapore, were targeted after responding to a fake moneylending advertisement
00:33on Facebook. The syndicate had impersonated a licensed Singapore-based moneylender. Though
00:39the victims only submitted basic personal information to check their loan eligibility,
00:44the syndicate managed to trace their families in Malaysia and began making extortion demands.
00:50When payments were not made or negotiations failed, the criminals launched petrol bomb
00:54attacks on the victims' family homes. Chong described the violence as unprecedented and
01:00ruthless. He added that even loan sharks can be negotiated with, but this group resorts
01:05to violence and continues to extort money from victims no matter how much money is paid.
01:11Chong said the extortionists would send footage of their attacks to the victims and challenge
01:16them to lodge police reports.
01:18After doing that, they will ask you to lodge a police report and also they will send the
01:25picture to you, send the video clip to you, to the victim's handphone to show you how
01:30they burn. You don't have to capture yourself, they will show you how they burn. Even the
01:35dog also burn. And remember that, now I burn the dog, next time will be you. If you see
01:42the TV, you can see the poor dog yelling in agony and pain. So this is what is done by
01:51the extortionists.
01:52The syndicate even had the audacity to call Chong's office to demand the updated phone
01:57number of one of the previously reported victims. Meanwhile, Madam Chong said her son, Tan,
02:04was forced to pay S$1,400 to the extortionists despite never agreeing to take the loan.
02:11The 63-year-old housewife from Perak said her son had only submitted his name and phone
02:16number to a man named Darren for a loan eligibility check.
02:21On March 17th, he unexpectedly received S$300 via PayNow and despite promptly returning
02:28the amount with interest, threats continued. Since then, the family's home has been attacked
02:33five times with petrol bombs and on April 2nd, their pet dog was burned in one of the
02:38incidents.
03:08The assailants also threatened further violence. Madam Chin, a 61-year-old hawker from Seremban,
03:30said her son borrowed S$900 twice from the syndicate in December 2024 but has since paid
03:36back over S$5,000. Still, the threats persist.
03:41Chong urged the police to take swift and stern action against the extortionists and warned
03:47the public against responding to online money-lending ads.