A married couple lived in fear after receiving a threatening note mistakenly sent by Ah Long, and more worryingly, a month later, their home was splashed with paint.

Mohd Ariffin Ayob, 46, said his wife and himself were bewildered at being pursued and attacked in such a manner by Ah Long when they and their children, aged 22 and 21 years, had never borrowed from them.

"A threatening note was pasted at the front of my car parked in the garage, in the first incident on Dec 2. My wife saw the note when she was hanging the washing at 4pm. Among its contents were the name of the borrower we don't know and a telephone number that we did not know.

"Almost every week a car will stop, drive slowly and cruise around the front of my house after the incident, until Dec 29 when the paint incident occurred.

"My wife heard the sound of something being hurled outside the house. She rushed out and saw something flying and the front of my house turning red including the car," he told reporters when met in Seremban today.

"My wife, who was alone in the house minding some children, immediately telephoned me and I rushed home," said Ariffin, who works as a personal assistant.

"Indeed, the paint incident made the whole family fearful and restless. Each time I hear a sound I will inspect the area outside my house. On her part, my wife imagined seeing things flying every time she was outside the house.

"My daughter is emotionally disturbed, what more during the incident she was sitting for a final university examination. And more embarassing to the whole family, the incident took place several weeks after I held a wedding reception for my son, the younger of the siblings.

"It became the talk of the neighbourhood that we allegedly borrowed from Ah Long to fund the event," he said.

At a loss over the developments, Ariffin and his neighbours held a special prayer (solat hajat) in the effort to seek guidance.

"I did contact the borrower using the telephone number on the note after receiving the note.

"I messaged and sent WhatsApp messages but did not get any response.

"I assumed the actual debtor wanted to wash his hands of this and leave us at the mercy of the Ah Long. So, I disseminated his WhatsApp profile picture.

"In addition, I also performed hajat prayers. Several days later, I was told by my sister-in-law that the actual owner had been identified by a neighbour in my housing estate.

"So, I submitted the identity of the borrower to the police for further action," he said.

Mohd Ariffin said he saw the borrower at the Seremban District Police Headquarters yesterday and had a discussion to solve the problem.

"The borrower did not want to own up he had debts with Ah Long. We checked his cellphone and found threatening messages from Ah Long, and we also found out how much he borrowed.

"I also found out, while he received threat messages from Ah Long, it was my family who bore the brunt of the Ah Long attacks. A check showed that the number of my house is the same as that of the borrower albeit in a different housing estate," he said.

Ariffin said, with the discussion yesterday, he and his wife hoped their family would no longer be harassed by Ah Long.

He said he had never borrowed from Ah Long and did not want to be disturbed over something he had never done, leaving the matter to the police to act further.

"I had to fork out RM6,000 to get rid of the paint on the front portion of my house, car and shoes. I had to throw away the clothes hung out to dry as they were splattered with paint.

"I was also forced to install closed-circuit television for security. But I only hope this incident will end," he added.

- Bernama