‘My helper already paid loan sharks back, but they still harass us. What can I do?’
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SINGAPORE: A harassed mum took to Reddit to seek help as she has been at her wits’ end, not knowing what to do about a situation concerning her domestic helper, who had borrowed money from a loan shark.
Although the helper has already paid her debt plus the interest, the loan sharks have continued to harass the post author, sending food via bogus delivery orders, a common modus operandi for loan sharks. This has prompted the post author to lodge a police report.
In a post on r/askSingapore on Monday (Aug 25), u/dazzling_broccoli_38 wrote that she only found out about the money their helper borrowed — and returned — because the loan sharks told her.
“However, they are still harassing me and sent GrabFood cash on delivery to me. I’m frightened because I’ve a baby at home. I’ve not sent her home because she’s under investigation and my baby is going for a medical procedure in 3 days’ time,” the post author wrote, adding that she can’t go without a helper at the moment, but that they feel so afraid.
“You must be calm and strong for your baby’s medical procedure, and her being there isn’t going to help. As much as you do not like it, you will have to send her back to the agency. She has breached the trust by doing something that can endanger you and family. If financial is not a problem, you can easily get a maid replacement,” advised one commenter.
Another wrote that the post author should, “Paste the police report outside your door. Put a notice that you did not order any delivery.”
However, they warned her that “if you paid them, they probably think they can get more money out of you by intimidating you. DO NOT TRANSFER any more money.”
“Remember to ignore the loan sharks. Do not engage with the loan sharks,” warned another.
One offered this bit of advice: “Happened to my friend with small kids, too. Apparently, loan sharks are quite reasonable. According to my friend, once you terminate the maid contract and send her back to the agency, tell them that she is no longer employed under you, and the loan sharks will stop bothering you.”
“Happened to me (my maid). These ‘loansharks’ are actually overseas scammers. Not here in SG. I saw the messages; the scammers practically sweet-talked the maid into borrowing small sums and harassed them the next day. The goal is to get the employers scared and to pay them non-stop.
“So trust the police. Just block them and move on with life. It is a matter of economics: how many burner accounts will the scammers invest to send you grab-cash food (then the number gets blocked), and will they even dispatch a runner to harass your house with all the cameras around (high chance the runner will get arrested)? Maybe if your maid owes them thousands lah. As long as your maid pays back the sum (and a bit of extra), this job becomes ‘profit’ for the scammers; they will focus on other jobs.”
“Also, the maid should be severely warned and install cameras around your house (to deter the maid). If you bring in a new maid, the chance of getting loan-shark scammed resets to 50-50,” another wrote, /TISG