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Loan sharks send funeral flowers after woman says friend used her identity to borrow money

A woman is at the end of her wits after loan sharks harassed her by sending three funeral flower arrangements to her husband’s music school in Jurong West and their neighbours.

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, the 60-year-old woman named only as Ms Zhuo (transliterated from Mandarin) said the trouble started after a friend used her identity to borrow money from the loan sharks.

Source: Shin Min Daily News

Woman says friend used IC to borrow money

The debtor, a 58-year-old woman known as Ms Lan (transliterated from Mandarin), was a student at her husband’s music school, Ms Zhuo said.

Years ago, Ms Zhuo had sent a photo of her identity card to Ms Lan to help her buy health products.

However, Ms Lan used it to borrow money from loan sharks — setting off a barrage of loan shark harassment that started last year, leading her to make numerous police reports.

Source: Shin Min Daily News

Though she gave the loan sharks the contact number of Ms Lan’s sister, they kept on sending her intimidating messages, she added.

Loan sharks send 3 sets of funeral flowers

The nightmare continued at about midnight on 8 July, when her son found funeral flowers in front of the music school.

They carried a message in English with Ms Zhuo’s full name, and the words, “Rest In Peace”.

According to CCTV footage, they were sent at 10pm the night before, so she made yet another police report.

That afternoon, the loan sharks contacted her, informing her that two more funeral flowers had been sent to their downstairs neighbour and the beauty salon upstairs.

The one upstairs came with Ms Zhuo’s photo and the Chinese words “路好走” (Rest In Peace).

Source: Shin Min Daily News

The flowers received downstairs had Ms Lan’s photo and name.

Ms Zhuo has visited her neighbours to apologise and explain what happened, she said.

Flowers cost a total of S$332

According to the florist’s website, the flowers sent to the music school cost S$88, while the other two cost S$122 each — meaning the total outlay was S$332.

Ms Zhuo was puzzled over this, questioning why the loan sharks would spend money to buy funeral flowers when they could not even get back the money they were owed.

From the CCTV, she noted that the flowers were delivered by an elderly couple who seemed confused, as there was no wake at the delivery location. They kept on checking their phone to make sure it was the right address.

Nevertheless, the uncle took photos to prove delivery before they left.

Debtor allegedly unwilling to deal with the situation

While Ms Zhuo said she was not concerned for her safety, she felt helpless as she had not borrowed the money and could not pay it back either.

She has ended her friendship with Ms Lan after attempting to talk to her about the situation several times, but to no avail.

Her husband, who could not bear the loan shark harassment either, has also reached out to Ms Lan but she was unwilling to deal with the situation, she added.

“She said that she could not do anything and was ‘very tired’, and even said she ‘might as well die’. This is not the first time she has said that,” Ms Zhuo lamented.

They even went to the Community Mediation Centre about this, but Ms Lan accused her of harassment, she said. At the time, the judge had advised Ms Lan to solve the problems that she had created.

When Shin Min tried to contact Ms Lan, nobody answered the phone.

Also read: Woman buys S$515K resale flat in Sembawang, receives threatening letters from loan sharks every week for a year

Woman buys S$515K resale flat in Sembawang, receives threatening letters from loan sharks every week for a year

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