Loan Shark Visit - 1

Please.... do not get me wrong...
Loan Shark visit here does not mean that I went to visit the Loan Shark or what... I am in need of money, that is true, but I 'should' never be at the state to borrow money from them, why? because I have so many friends around...

Well, anyway... the story goes all the way to back a few months ago, maybe about 4 months ago. (the story being told here is true to the essence, however some details given may not be exactly accurate as I have forgotten and make up certain minor non-essentials)

One day, when I returned to my house. I saw a small post it note being folded and left at the main gate. The note was about the size of 3inchx3inch, and in it was written: "Ah Hui, call #######". Hmm.. I thought, is this some kind of 'promotion' for some service, that is normally the prank people do in the back of bus seat or public toilet? I ignored it, and threw the paper away

About 1 month afterward, I received a similar note again. This time, the name given was full name:"Wxxx Hxx Hui call ########". Oh, now I recognized the name. It is the name of someone staying in the house before we moved in 5 years ago. I still did not think that it was something to do with the well-known financial service aka loan shark. I thought, some long lost friend of that guy is trying to reconnect with him. But since I don't have the phone number, so I just ignored the paper again.

Yet, another 2 weeks went by, and I happened to be in the house. I heard a doorbell rang, and thought must be some salesman. I peeped through the pigeon hole, and saw an unfamiliar face without anything to sell, so I opened the door to ask what it is about. The person said, he was looking for Ah Hui. I say, there is no Ah Hui in this house. He passed me a note, and asked me to call the number stated inside. He said, Ah Hui owed people money and the address given was this address. So, if I want to clarify, I need to call that number.

THEN, I realized, that it is really what I have watched so many times on TV, News, or other HDB flat's door. It is an O$P$ (Owe $ Pay $) case. My neighbour at the far end of the alley was sprayed with blue paint and written those letters in big size. My door was still quite clean.

so.. what should I do? I was gullible. After the delivery man went his way, I called the number specified in the piece of yellow note, using my house phone (I used my HP more often, and thus willing to sacrifice my house number if required). The number was auto-forwarded to a phone outside singapore, because the ring-tone was really different. No one answered the phone though.

But, when I hang up the phone, within 1 minute or so, my housephone rang: "Siang Kar !@#$#%% (this is all spoken in Hokkien, I shall translate them for your reading convenience)" "Who call me?"

"Hi, I just received a note asking for money, but I am telling you, the person is not staying in this house. I have moved in to this house more than 4 years ago."

"Tell Ah Hui, that he owe some people money and he cannot just run away"

"There is no such person named Ah Hui in the house".

"His IC says that he is staying in that house"

"Maybe that was last time, I have bought the house and there is no such person"

"You tell Ah Hui to pay up"

"I am telling you, you are wasting your time. There is nothing you can do, he is not staying here"

"There is nothing we can do? you just wait and see"

"Now, lets me reasonable, you see, that person may just hand you an old IC, or he may scrapped away his new address, you see"

"so?"

"so, perhaps you can advise me on what should I do, so that your people will stop harassing our house"

"you go to the police station, and make a report, and tell the police to give you a print out statement, saying that Wxxx Hxx Hui is not staying in the house, paste it on the side of the door, and I will send my guy over to check and we will leave you"

"ok, do you have the person's IC? so that I can check it with the police also"

"His IC no is S80######"

And so, I went to the police office and reported the case. The police simply recorded some statements that I make, but never want to give the printed statement as requested by the guy over the phone. Simple logic, if the police do it, then they are just helping the LoanShark in ther running of their business. They provided free 'address authentication' service for the LoanSharks. So, no print out.

The police said, as long as they don't do any damage, I don't need to worry. They will escalate the issue if required. and they may contact me in the next few days for further information. And in the next few days, some officer did call me and clarifying details that I made earlier. Apparently it is a CID case, and they also required the 'yellow note' to be collected for forensic investigation.

'unfortunately' the yellow paper was already so badly contaminated by my hand's fiber and fingerprints.. I don't think they are able to find anything good belong to the guy and his gangs.

to be continued...