KUALA LUMPUR: It did not work this time for an unemployed man who attempted to hoodwink his long-suffering family into paying RM190,000 to two illegal money lenders.

The man, known as Teo, told his family that he had borrowed RM100,000 and RM90,000 from two loan sharks and they were after him for failing to settle the loans.

However, his family was suspicious of the claim as they had bailed him out on numerous occasions in the past.

He had previously borrowed from 14 other loan sharks.

In the previous cases, the loan sharks were only willing to lend him between RM1,000 and RM10,000, considering his circumstances and lack of employment.
The family's suspicions arose when Teo could not produce any documents about the two loan sharks from whom he claimed to have borrowed RM190,000, nor was any guarantor involved.

Unable to get him to admit his duplicity, Teo's family approached MCA Public Services and Complaints department head Datuk Michael Chong for assistance.

"Even after several hours of questioning, Teo refused to admit that he had conspired with loan sharks to cheat his family. He insisted that he had borrowed RM190,000 from the two loan sharks," Chong said yesterday.

"But it does not make sense, even though they are illegal money lenders -- who in their right mind would lend RM190,000 to an unemployed man without issuing any documents or asking for a guarantor?

"Teo's younger brother had previously bailed him out of trouble on many occasions and is still paying off his old loans in instalments.

"At one point, Teo's brother paid almost RM30,000 just to settle the interest."

But Teo's antics this time went too far, even for his supportive family who have cast him out of the family home and stopped paying the instalments on his previous loans.

It is also learnt that Teo's wife has begun divorce proceedings.

City CID chief SAC II Ku Chin Wah said borrowers should be responsible for their loans and warned illegal money lenders that police would not hesitate to take action if they went after the borrower's family.

In a separate case, Chong said a 36-year-old man was believed to have staged his own kidnapping on Nov 13 with the assistance of an illegal money lender.

His wife, Qiu, 33, was asked to pay RM4,800 in return for her husband's safe release.

She refused to be intimidated by the loan shark.

Instead, she offered to settle the amount in full if the money lender met her, which the latter refused.

Suspicious, she approached Chong for assistance.

Qiu also lodged a report at the Cheras police station on the matter as several personal belongings, including her jewellery, had gone missing from the family home in Taman Miharja.

When Chong offered to mediate in the case, the loan shark got cold feet and backed off.

The whereabouts of Qiu's husband are still not known.