SINGAPORE: A food deliveryman who found himself in financial difficulty received an advertisement on WhatsApp and responded to it, subsequently taking loans from an unlicensed moneylender.
When his requests for more loans were turned down, the man agreed to work for the loan shark in exchange for money.
Elfian Azhar Abdul Hamid, 42, was sentenced to six months’ jail on Monday (Aug 14) for his loan-shark harassment crimes.
He pleaded guilty to one count under the Moneylenders Act of locking a man’s gate with a bicycle lock on behalf of the unidentified loan shark.
Another two similar charges were taken into consideration.
The court heard that Elfian found himself in financial difficulties in April 2023. He came across a loan advertisement on WhatsApp and contacted the advertiser, who turned out to be an unlicensed moneylender.
Although the loan shark did not identify himself, Elfian asked him for loans and took several loans from him.
However, when Elfian asked for another loan of S$1,000 (US$737), the loan shark rejected him, saying he had not repaid his earlier loans.
The loan shark then suggested that Elfian perform harassment jobs on his behalf, including pasting debtor notes and locking the gates of debtors’ homes.
He offered S$80 for pasting notes and S$150 for locking gates with a bicycle lock.
Elfian agreed. He pasted debtor notes on the wall beside flats in Choa Chu Kang and Hougang on Apr 8 and Apr 10 this year.
On Apr 11, he took it one step further. He had been instructed by the loan shark to lock the gate of a flat in Delta Avenue.
Elfian arrived at the flat at about 6.40pm that day, with a bicycle lock he had purchased. He wore a helmet and shades to avoid detection and secured the gate with the lock.
He then took a video and sent it to the loan shark before leaving. In return, the loan shark transferred S$100 to his bank account.
When the victim, an 86-year-old man, returned to the flat, he was alarmed to see the lock and called the police. His son had owed money to the loan shark.
The police identified Elfian and arrested him two days later.
The prosecution sought four to seven months’ jail for Elfian, saying that he was not a debtor-turned-harasser. Instead, he had offered his services to the unlicensed moneylender “solely for profit”, said the prosecutor.
The judge told the accused that if he had splashed paint “or anything like that”, he would have faced caning.
“Please don’t do this again,” he said. “Because whatever little money you earn from the loan shark, when you are caught – and you will be caught – the sentence will be severe.”
For committing an act likely to cause alarm while acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, Elfian could have been jailed up to five years and fined between S$5,000 and S$50,000.