Teacher acted for loan shark after failed crypto investment, sent him nudes over $600 debt
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Geraldine Quek Yi Ling was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to seven counts of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
- English teacher Geraldine Quek was jailed 18 months for becoming a loan shark runner.
- Her debt from failed cryptocurrency investments led her to borrow from unlicensed lenders.
- She harassed five victims with pork hooves and notes, and sent a naked photo of herself to a loan shark after threats.
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SINGAPORE - A secondary school English teacher became a loan shark runner after she racked up debt from failed investments in cryptocurrency.
Geraldine Quek Yi Ling, 42, harassed at least five victims, sending them pork hooves and hell notes along with threatening messages.
She also sent a naked photo and video of herself to a loan shark after he threatened her.
On May 8, she was jailed for 18 months after pleading guilty to seven counts of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender.
Another nine similar charges, two for assisting an unlicensed moneylender, and one for destroying evidence, were taken into consideration during sentencing.
Quek was listed on St Patrick’s School’s website in November 2025 as its head of department (HOD) of English language and literature. Her name has since been removed from the list of HODs on the website.
She began investing in cryptocurrency in 2023, borrowing money from at least four different unlicensed moneylenders to do so.
But when the market crashed, she found herself unable to repay her loans, which had snowballed due to the constantly compounding interest.
In December 2024, she borrowed $600 from an unlicensed moneylender identified as “Travis Heng”.
She had been unable to repay the entire sum after that, and instead paid him $100 to $200 weekly.
But he kept telling her that she still owed him due to interest.
In September 2025, Quek tried to negotiate with the loan shark, and he instead harassed her, threatening to go to her home if she did not send him a naked picture of herself.
She then sent a naked photo and video of herself.
In October 2025, he offered to offset $10 from Quek’s debts each time she harassed a borrower for him.
She was to take photos and videos of the borrowers’ units, and place debtor notes at the entrance of some of them.
From October to November 2025, she harassed at least five victims on behalf of ‘Travis Heng’.
In some instances, victims received raw pork hoofs and hell notes along with debtor notes, which said “what owed must be paid (sic)”.
Quek was arrested on Nov 25, 2025.
For each count of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, she could have been jailed for up to five years.
