Some seduced into making an easy buck, others paying off their debts
By
Teh Joo Lin & Ben Nadarajan
IF THE 'O$P$' scrawls on the walls look more childish nowadays, it may be because they are the handiwork of loan shark runners barely out of their teens. Those caught harassing debtors to pay up seem to be getting younger, with at least one as young as 12.
Police nabbed 63 youth last year for doing the dirty work for loan sharks when debtors default on repayment. In 2007, 59 youth were arrested.
Police did not release figures for this year, but The Straits Times did its own count based on police releases. Of 124 loan sharks and runners arrested, 31 - or one in four - were aged 19 and below. The cases have led the police to warn youngsters against being made used of by loan sharks.
The police have been clamping down hard on loan shark activities, with harsher penalties added in late 2005.
But the youth, lured by what they see as easy money for deceptively simple work, seldom think that far, said counsellors. They can get paid about $50 per job by just splashing paint on doors and scribbling threatening notes on walls.
Please read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times
