199 People Under Police Investigation for Suspected Involvement in Loan Sharking Activities

Some criminals may think that they’re the smoothest, most bloodthirsty, and smartest individuals in the industry, and may think that their reign of supremacy will last until the end.

Unfortunately for them, the real sharks here are the police, who are hunting these criminals down with their keen sense for blood.

199 Suspects Investigated For Loan Shark Related Activities

Seems like the police have been really busy these days with their heavy crackdowns on illegal activities.

From 22 March to 4 April, they embarked on a two-week long anti–loan-shark operation, which sounds pretty hardcore by its name alone.

Simultaneous raids were carried out island-wide by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the seven police land divisions to weed out these loan shark activities.

It was a rather fruitful operation, for they managed to take in 199 people for probing.

They were suspected of getting involved in illegal moneylending activities, with the oldest being 78 years old, and the youngest being only 14 years old.

11 of the suspects had allegedly harassed debtors at their homes. Yes, we’re talking about the people who stereotypically spray “O$P$” on the wall in red paint as you see in dramas.

Another 36 of them were apparently runners, who assisted these loan sharks in transferring money to and fro using ATM machines.

On the other hand, the remaining 152 people were suspected of opening bank accounts and helping loan sharks to facilitate their businesses, even going as far to give them their ATM cards, personal identification numbers and internet banking tokens.

Investigations are still ongoing.

Assistance Is Still A Crime

Under the Moneylenders’ Act (Revised Edition 2010), if you let any loan shark use your bank account, ATM card, or internet banking token for their business, you’ll be considered to have assisted in unlicensed moneylending.

And assistance is still a crime, even if some may think it’s okay to just help someone out.

No matter what role you play in assisting loan sharks in their illegal moneylending business, tough enforcement action will be taken, the police promised.

They also said that they will ensure these people face the “full brunt of the law,” including “taking action against those who open or give away their bank accounts to aid unlicensed moneylenders.”

How scary.

Stay Away

More incidents of loan sharks sending unsolicited text messages advertising their services have also been on the rise, the police said.

Yep, it’s one of those annoying WhatsApp or SMS messages you occasionally receive of someone calling you bro and offering to help you out with financial trouble.

Members of the public are advised not to respond to these messages, even if you want to troll them, and just directly report it to WhatsApp as a scam message.

Everyone should also stay away from loan sharks, and especially avoid working with or assisting them in any way.

Offenders who carry on or assist in illegal moneylending businesses for the first time may face a fine of S$30,000 and S$300,000, a jail term of up to four years, and caning up to six strokes.

For acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender as well as attempting to or conducting harassment, one could be fined S$5,000 and S$50,000, jailed for up to five years, and be liable for three to six strokes of the cane.

As cool as being a loan shark may sound, the impacts aren’t, so always exercise caution in dealing with loan sharks and the like.

Feature Image: taffpixture / Shutterstock.com