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Thursday December 9, 2010
Students turn to Ah Long to fund habit
By SHARIN SHAIK
[email protected]
KUALA LUMPUR: Students as young as 16 are turning to loan sharks to pay off their Internet gambling debts, forcing their parents to settle their huge debts. This year alone, the MCA Public Complaints Bureau has received seven such cases with a total debt of RM874,800.
In one case, a 45-year-old mother was now being harassed by loansharks as her 21-year-old son had racked up debts of almost RM30,000 since his college days. The mother, who identified herself as Madam Yong, said at a press conference yesterday that Ah How had been involved in Internet football gambling since last year when he was in college. She has not seen him for two months now.
Yong said she paid Ah How’s RM2,000 debt the first time. “He promised never to gamble again, but did not keep his word,” she said. Yong said to fund his betting, Ah How sold the shares she had bought in his name. On Dec 2, she received a call from a debt collector called “Ah Boon,” telling her that her son still owed him RM26,500.
“I am speaking out so that other parents can be aware of this issue,” said Yong at the MCA Public Complaints Bureau. “Anyone can fall victim to Internet gambling and loan sharks.” According to bureau chief Datuk Micheal Chong, many parents had come to him with the same problem “and all involved boys aged between 16 and 20”.
“My worry is that this is mostly happening to Chinese students,” he said. Chong said he suspected that a syndicate was working with bookies and loansharks to lure students into illegal gambling. “It is easier to target the youngsters by commissioning other students to encourage them to gamble online,” added Yong.
Chong said these bookies and loansharks were not concerned over students not paying up because they know that their parents would. “It is the parents who suffer the most,” he said. “Prevention is better than cure; so please advise your children not to get involved in online gambling.”
