A VERULAM man has shared how he received death threats from a Phoenix loan shark after borrowing R25,000.
This comes amid rising cases of aggressive intimidation and threat tactics by loan sharks in the Durban area.
The 37-year-old man told POST on Monday that he had taken about the loan after he hit a “rough patch” financially.
He said despite him paying back about R46,400, the demands to honour the loan kept coming each month.
“Last year I borrowed R25 000 over six months. I was paying 50% interest. In March, I ran into financial difficulty again and could not afford the R10 000 interest.
“I was then told that I needed to pay R20 000 because I did not pay the R10 000, and to keep paying R10 000 each month thereafter. There seemed no end in sight.
“I then decided not to pay, and received threats,” he added.
The man said the threats were made via Whatsapp by the loan shark and his son.
“I received messages that said I would be assaulted if I did not pay the money. I then got a voice note from the loan shark saying ‘You have until 10:30am today to pay the money, otherwise I will do the work.’
“I went to the police station to report the matter, but officers were hesitant to open a case. I was told to get a protection order, but my fear is that if a protection order is served on the loan shark while the threats are being made, this will push him to harm me.
“I now live in fear of being attacked. I drive in fear, and I cannot sleep. I locked my dogs away as there were threats that my dogs would be poisoned,” the man claimed.
He said when he got no help from police, he called Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) for help and advice.
Prem Balram, head of Rusa, said he dealt with five cases where loan sharks were using aggressive methods to get their clients to pay them.
He said there was an increase in these types of cases.
“We deal with about 15 cases each month on average. The victims in all cases were intimidated after the loan sharks employed aggressive methods to collect monies that, with high interest rates, had rapidly accumulated debt.
“Despite having paid the initial amounts, the debts have reached exorbitant amounts and eventually escalated to extortion. The interest rates on each case varied from 30% to 100%.
“According to the victims, the loan sharks had threatened the victims and their families with death, kidnapping of children, and burning of their homes, etc. In most cases, the loan sharks would send heavily armed men to the homes or workplaces, forcing the victims to pay. The loan terms are generally unclear,” Balram confirmed.
He said loan sharks were carrying out their threats by pitching up at the workplaces of those who owed them money, and in one case last week, a loan shark had positioned two armed men outside the house of a man who owed him money, preventing that man from returning to his house.
“People had been threatened with firearms and some of them were assaulted. Victims vary from youngsters to the elderly, and amounts borrowed were from R500 to R100,000.
“All the victims were from Durban, and few had opened criminal cases. Some have been advised to obtain protection orders.
“Some of the complainants were concerned that the loan sharks had links to police, leaving them apprehensive to obtain the orders.
“The increase in these types of cases is concerning,” Balram added.
