A PENANG hairdresser, who owed loan shark money, was jailed for four years on Monday for using counterfeit credit cards.

Aoh Wei Li, 32, was to get a $700 reduction in her debt for every $10,000 worth of merchandise she bought with the cards but was unable to meet the target.

She spent only $1,900 before she was nabbed a day after arriving here on May 6. Accompanied by two men and a woman - all Malaysians - she went shopping immediately after crossing the Causeway at about 2.30pm

From 5pm till 7pm, she bought a hairdryer, a slimming belt, a cell phone, three prepaid SIM cards, two cell phone pouches, a passport holder and other items, amounting to $1,880 with several fake credit cards.

The next day, police got wind of it and Aoh was arrested.

Investigations revealed that she had committed another 14 similar offences in March when she bought $700 worth of items.

A district court heard that she was with her three young children then and had used the fake cards to pay for food and accommodation.

She was told not to bring her children again by the loan shark, from whom she had borrowed RM30,000 after her business failed.

Her accomplices are still at large.