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Sun, Jul 27, 2008
NST
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'I ignored warning signs and paid for it'
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>MALAYSIA - JENNY (not her real name) is struggling to pay off the loans under her name and has to borrow money from friends to buy a meal. She gave more than RM70,000 to a Casanova, who took advantage of her grief after her mother's death.
The 35-year-old met "Andy" at her mother's funeral in Kuala Lumpur. He was with a friend and after the funeral, they kept in touch by phone and email.
A year later, the 48-year-old man moved to Kuala Lumpur to look for a job and be closer with Jenny.
"I was not interested in a relationship. I'd never had a boyfriend and was still mourning my mother," said Jenny.
"But Andy was so supportive. And after a few months of courtship, I agreed to make a down payment on a taxi."
Initially, Andy worked hard and paid the instalments. But as months went by, he worked less and ran out of money.
"When he could not meet the payments, he started borrowing from me. At first, it was small amounts like RM100.
"But they got bigger and bigger. We used to fight over money."
Jenny was suspicious at first but Andy's sweet words always melted her heart, and she gave in to him.
"He never raised his voice when he was angry. He was very sweet and caring, especially after an argument."
Her family thought he was a "good catch" but she never met any of his friends or relatives.
Andy talked about marriage many times and even persuaded her to get registration forms.
"But he always backed out at the last minute. Usually, he used his financial situation as an excuse.
"To solve that problem, he convinced me to take a loan. He said the banks had blacklisted him and he could not apply for one."
Jenny took a personal loan of RM40,000 and pawned some of her jewellery. She did not tell her family because she knew they would not agree.
After settling his "debts", Andy moved to a new job in Johor Baru but returned to visit every month.
"He never gave me his address in Johor Baru, even though I asked many times.
"After two months, he asked me to take another loan. This time, it was for RM30,000. I had to pay RM700 a month to settle the loan. That was half of my salary," she said.
After the second loan, Andy's visits became less frequent. He told Jenny he was busy.
Eventually, he stopped coming. It's been a year since Jenny last saw him. All his phone lines have been cut.
Jenny said there were many warning signs but she was blinded by love.
"I heard from a friend that Andy was seen with a girl in Penang. He was also spotted in Johor Baru with a different girl."
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