My Filipino maid, who had worked for me for seven years, borrowed money from six illegal Ah Longs. The entire process was conducted electronically, via WhatsApp and bank transfer. She never met them in person.
She sent images of her work permit, both front and back pages, which displayed the employer’s name and address. Separately, she provided them with my phone number and house address.
Several Ah Longs started calling me when she couldn’t make the payment. It took three days to reveal the truth that she had indeed borrowed from Ah Longs—not just one, but six in total.
On the first day of Ah Longs calling to ask for $1K, I went back to clarify with her, and she told me that she had borrowed from a legal creditor last year and had fully settled.
I confirmed with the legal creditor, and the staff told me it could be a scam. On the second day, Ah Long insisted that my maid did the borrowing, as he just exchanged messages with her.
My maid lied to me, saying that her friend used her work permit to borrow. On the third day, another Ah Long, addressing himself as Eric, called me.
My husband tried to settle with him. We wanted to honor the loan, but Eric, from initially chasing for the payment, due to cheating money.
From the loan amount $200 to $400 (including interest up to that day), he asked for $8K. My maid told him over WhatsApp that she borrowed from a few illegal lenders, her employer knew nothing, her employer was very scared, and she would pay.
This gave Eric an avenue to cheat the money. He bluffed to us that all the other Ah Longs were under him, and he is their boss.
My husband wanted to settle $2K; he refused. We asked him for any proof of the loan; he shouted that he is Ah Long and where got proof.
We asked him how the loan snowballed to $8K. He just shouted that the interest doubles each day, but no details were provided.
Fortunately, we stay in a private condominium, and we triggered our condo security to be vigilant. In order not to be disturbed by their harassment messages and calls, I changed my phone number, home number, deleted my Facebook, and all my family photos on my maid’s Facebook.
After clearance from the police, we sent our maid back to the Philippines. We felt insecure when she was in Singapore, as we worried that she might disclose more information to Ah Long.
She sent her intimate photos to one of the Ah Longs after being threatened. After this incident, I retained my maid’s phone, as all the evidence is inside her phone. This was my first time checking her phone after seven years, as we trusted her a lot.
To my shock, my maid not only borrowed from Ah Long but also engaged in inappropriate behavior, including sleeping around, doing part-time modeling on Sundays, going to drink in the pub, dining in hotels/restaurants, etc.
No wonder she needed so much money to support her lifestyle. Before this incident burst out, I just gave her a two-month advance, which she asked for.
From this experience, I learned from my mistake that we shouldn’t give in to Ah Longs for the debt from our maid. This will give them the business opportunity.