Harrassed by Ah Longs

These pictures say it all. For those who don't know what these are about... Those paint patches are by the Town Council people who are trying to cover up spray paint marks by loansharks.

Loansharks often spray "O$P$" owe money pay money... and the debtor's name, IC and a phone number on the walls of HDB.

When Bobo went to her new place today, she saw all these on the main lift landing. She walked up the stairs and saw all these patches on EVERY staircase landing... all the way up the stairs and EVERY lift landing on the way up. Even some of the neighbours' plants have blue paint on them. She took a peep at the supposed unit and saw blue paint on their windows.

Now... Bobo wants to clarify that NO ONE should jump into conclusions. Sometimes the person who owes money might not live in that unit at all. The person in the unit could be a guarantor, an innocent tenant or even a new owner. Some new owners buy the flat not knowing that the ex-owner is in financial trouble.... only to settle in months later and get this kind of trouble...

So some tips for you guys...

1) If the owner seems SUPER desperate to sell, willing to let go at BELOW valuation, willing to move out asap, etc.. then BE CAREFUL. Ask them why they are selling, then ask the agent why they are selling too. Then ask to see the unit AT NIGHT.. after 9pm and see what their reaction is like.

2) Be ultra careful if the place is vacant already. Sometimes it's the tenant who owes money and ran away already and the landlord is trying to get rid of the unit. Bobo has seen one such unit before.

3) Check if the door frame of the place is newly painted and if it is, see if there are spots of odd paint on the floor. Cos usually after multi coloured paint has been splashed on the front, the owner will try to paint over...

3) ALWAYS walk down the stairs nearest to the unit and check for such spray paint or paint patches (in the pictures above). Sometimes it's not the owner of the flat you want. It's the person's immediate neighbour. Loansharks are known to harrassed the neighbours too if they can't get their money. Bobo has seen broken pots and spray paints along an entire common corridor when one of the units is the "debtor's".
4) LOOK OUT if you see CCTVs being installed either at the unit you like or the neighbouring ones. It's not a good sign.

5) IF the owners already owe HDB money that obviously spells trouble. Bobo thinks that this is a no-brainer but THERE ARE people still happily jump into the deal cos the unit is cheap. But this kind of loanshark trouble is really hard to get rid of.


Stuff that Loansharks have been known to do....
- Spray paint (obviously)
- Put glue in locks
- Put chains and lock the people inside.
- Throw shit/rubbish on the main door.
- Destroy pots and stuff outside the house.
- Do all the above to the neighbour too.

Bobo remembers one where they splashed kerosene on the door to scare the owners too.. mMm...

People who have had this trouble before tried reporting to the police, but police said they will patrol more (that's all). They have written to Town Council, MP to seek for help but no help came.

There was one block that Bobo went before. THE WHOLE BLOCK was terrorised by the loansharks, except the unit in trouble. The unit in trouble had TWO CCTVs outside his flat. And had his plant beautifully placed there. His neighbours', however, had their things destroyed and painted. This is one of those low-rise 4 storey flats... Bobo was there to view one of the "innocent" flats which wasn't spared of the graffiti too. Obviously, Bobo didn't buy......
This is not hearsay, she saw it for herself.

(this part is hearsay though)
A couple of weeks later, Bobo heard from the housing agent who brought her there that the matter was resolved. How? The whole block waited for the loanshark runner to come... and they caught him themselves and hauled his ass to the police station. No more runners were sent again.

ONE LAST THING...
Always make sure that the seller changes his address after the transaction is completed. A friend of Bobo's was terrorised ONE YEAR after she moved in cos the ex-owner didn't change his address and borrowed money using the old one......