KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - The MCA Public Complaints and Service Department believes more people will borrow from loan sharks this year and end up being unable to repay their loans.

Department head Datuk Michael Chong said he had to tell many victims, especially habitual gamblers, not to seek help from the department again unless they were serious about repaying their loans and abstaining from their habit.

'I'm very sad and disgusted with those who borrow from loan sharks. Most of them are hopeless cases. When they borrow money, they never think of paying it back,' he said.

Chong said there were 580 cases of loan shark threats in 2007 and 618 cases last year. Of the number, only 5% were able to repay their loans and stay clear of loan sharks.

'But the rest borrowed and defaulted on their payments, leaving their families and the department to be constantly threatened by the loan sharks,' he said.

Chong said there were 35 cases of victims seeking help from the department to deal with loan sharks last month. In February 2008, there were more than 60 such cases.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, Chong warned of an SMS scam which told handphone users that they had won RM20,000 from a random selection of their SIM card in an SMS contest purportedly by a company called Astro Sdn Bhd.

At the same press conference, Astro also released a statement denying involvement and warning subscribers not to respond to the SMS.