Busted: Ahboy, Anson, Alvin and Ahhow easy-loan Ah Longs
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Police have broken four unlicensed money-lending syndicates (Ah Longs) offering loans with high interest rates and detained 28 men and a woman in a series of raids in Penang and Perak on Thursday.
Bukit Aman CCID director Zainuddin Yaacob said raids were carried out at 12 locations in Seberang Perai Tengah and Seberang Perai Utara in Penang and in Kerian, Perak, where 29 people, aged 21 to 54, were detained.
He said the four Ah Long syndicates, called Ahboy, Anson, Alvin and Ahhow, offered illegal online loans to borrowers such as traders, government employees and the general public.
They advertised money-lending offers on social media, with the loan interest rates of 10% to 15% for a period of one week, he said. Borrowers who failed to pay their debts would be threatened with gang members turning up at their homes or workplaces and committing acts of violence on the borrowers’ property.
Zainuddin said the syndicates would also offer new loans to borrowers who failed to repay the original loan, by which to settle previous debts, and in that way the victims would continue to be indebted to the lenders and would have to make multiple payments.
He said the initial investigation found that the four syndicates had been carrying out such activities since 2017 and offered loans ranging from RM1,000 to millions of ringgit involving thousands of borrowers nationwide.
Seized in the raids were 119 cheques from various banks, 68 mobile phones, 27 bank cards, various loan documents, jewellery, 10 vehicles and cash amounting to RM98,718 as well as a machete believed to be used to threaten borrowers.
He said that his team had investigated 291 cases related to Ah Long activities involving loans amounting to RM1.5 million so far this year.
