Woman receives funeral wreaths from loan shark after identity stolen

A woman whose identity was used to borrow money from loan sharks has received three successive funeral wreaths with the message "rest in peace".

Ms Zhuo, 60, told Shin Min Daily News that the harassment has gone on for a year, even after she called the police multiple times.

In 2024, Ms Zhuo's friend Ms Lan, 58, helped her to purchase some health products. In the process, she asked for a photo of Ms Zhuo's identity card, on the pretext of registering her as a member. "My husband is a singing teacher and opened a music school in Jurong West. Ms Lan was a student, and that's how we met," said Ms Zhuo.

However, the self-employed woman said, Ms Lan used the photo of her IC to borrow money from loan sharks.

Ms Zhuo said she still frequently receives harassing messages from loan sharks. "The incident had nothing to do with me. I provided contact information for Ms Lan's sister, but they still bothered me."

'Rest in peace'

On July 8, when her son arrived at her husband's music school at around noon, he found a funeral wreath at the entrance with the words "Rest in peace" addressed to her. "We checked the CCTV and found that the wreath was delivered at around 10pm the night before, so we immediately called the police," said Ms Zhuo.

However, the loan shark contacted her again that afternoon. She was then shocked to discover that the beauty salon above the school, as well as the neighbor's unit downstairs had also received wreaths.

"The wreaths upstairs had my photo, while the wreaths received by the neighbors downstairs cursed Ms Lan and contained her photo and name."

While Ms Zhuo is not worried about her personal safety, she told Shin Min that she felt helpless after being harassed for so long. "I can't pay the money back, and the money was not borrowed by me. I just hope that Ms Lan can solve this matter quickly and stop dragging us into this."

In response to queries, police confirmed that a report has been lodged on the matter.