A 19-Year-Old University Student Said No To A Second Loan, Then The Real Bill Arrived

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A 19-year-old university student came across a lending advertisement on social media before 12 May, applied for RM1,000, and received only RM700 — a common practice in illegal lending, where fees are skimmed upfront.

The student, identified only as Ye, used the money for an online investment.

On 25 May, he repaid the full RM1,000 principal as agreed, and when the lender asked whether he wanted to borrow again, he said no.

That refusal triggered what would become a weeks-long campaign of escalating demands, rotating characters and carefully timed threats.

By the time it was over, Ye and his family had lost RM16,800 — 24 times the original loan.

The case was made public on Friday (5 June) when Ye held a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, accompanied by MCA Youth leaders.

The Fees That Never Ended

Almost immediately after Ye declined to borrow again, the lender demanded RM8,000 as a “clearance fee” — supposedly to delete his personal data, including his identity card number and home address, from their records.

Sensing something was wrong, Ye filed a police report at the Wangsa Maju police station.

The syndicate appeared to find out almost immediately — the next day, threatening messages landed in his family members’ phones, and those messages contained details that seemed to echo what Ye had told police, leaving the family feeling that even the authorities could not protect them.

The demands did not stop there.

The family was told they now owed an additional RM4,800 because the police report had allegedly caused a bank account to be frozen, and another RM4,000 to have Ye’s name removed from a blacklist — bringing the total to RM16,800.

Wanting the nightmare to end, the family paid it all, transferring the money in stages to the accounts they were given.

It Still Did Not End

On the same night the final payment was made, Ye received a message from a man who claimed he had been paid RM1,000 to spray-paint the family’s home and offered to stand down in exchange for RM3,000.

Ye’s father called the original lender to confront them.

During that conversation, he noticed that the bank account provided by this new individual was linked to accounts used earlier in the scheme.

The family concluded that they were dealing with the same syndicate operating under different personas and refused to pay further.

Shortly after, another man contacted Ye, claiming to be the syndicate’s boss.

He demanded RM12,000 to call off the runner, and set a deadline of 1 June — warning that if payment was not received, the family’s home would be splashed with paint and set on fire.

Unafraid of Police, Until the Cameras Came

With no clear path forward, the family reached out to MCA Youth’s Federal Territory chapter for help.

Mike Chong, the chapter’s state chief and MCA deputy president of the youth wing, said he personally contacted the loan shark syndicate after receiving the appeal.

The response, he said, was defiant — the person on the other end said they were unafraid of the police and continued sending threatening messages to Ye.

However, once the case became public and MCA Youth’s involvement was known, the harassment stopped.

Chong said he had also been in contact with the Wangsa Maju district police chief, who confirmed the case would be investigated.

He advised anyone with genuine financial needs to approach licensed lending institutions rather than responding to advertisements on social media.

Parts of this story have been sourced from Oriental Daily.

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