Penang police chief Hamzah Ahmad said the woman admitted that she had taken loans from various money-lending firms. (Bernama pic)
GEORGE TOWN: A woman who claimed she was coerced into becoming a mistress by an unlicensed moneylending syndicate in Penang was found safe by the police yesterday.
Penang police chief Hamzah Ahmad said that a team from the Criminal Investigation Department located the woman, who made her claims in a podcast on July 26, at around 10.50pm at a residence in the Seberang Perai Utara district.
He said investigations revealed that the woman’s claims of being forced to work without pay in a ‘red house’ were false.
The woman, however, admitted that she had taken loans from various money-lending firms.
The woman also said that she and her mother had been threatened after she failed to repay her debts.
The case is being investigated under Section 506 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 after a police report was filed around 3pm yesterday concerning an 18-minute video shared on TikTok by the account @m.ikhwan_amin_007.
The video featured a telephone interview with the 26-year-old victim, who alleged that her father’s RM20,000 debt to loan sharks had led to her being exploited.
She had claimed that her father had used her mother and other family members as guarantors for the loan, prompting her to seek assistance through the podcast.
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