SINGAPORE: A teacher was harassed by a loan shark she owed money to and agreed to act on his behalf to reduce her debt.
In less than a month, she harassed at least five victims - at times with the help of another person - sending them raw pork hooves, hell notes and publicising photos of their NRIC numbers.
On Friday (May 8), Geraldine Quek, 42, was sentenced to one year and six months' jail after pleading guilty to seven charges of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender. Another 12 charges were taken into consideration.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) said she has not been employed by the ministry since March.
Sometime in 2023, Quek began investing in cryptocurrency and later borrowed money from unlicensed moneylenders to do so.
When the cryptocurrency market crashed, she could not repay her loans and had debts with about four different unlicensed moneylenders.
In December 2024, Quek was introduced to another unlicensed moneylender, known only as “Travis Heng”, from whom she borrowed S$600 (US$473).
Unable to repay the full amount, she made weekly payments of S$100 to S$200. But he told her the amount had grown due to interest. She tried to negotiate with him about her repayment schedule but he began harassing her instead.
Before Oct 8, 2025, he forced the accused to take a nude photo of herself and send it to him, threatening to harass her further by going to her home if she did not do so.
She complied, but the harassment continued. He later told her to film a nude video and threatened to leak the nude photo she had previously sent if she did not comply.
In late October 2025, he offered Quek a chance to reduce her outstanding debt. He told her to take photos and videos of the flats of his borrowers.
For every unit, she would get a S$10 offset from her outstanding loan amount. He also asked her to place debtor notes at the entrance of some flats.
Quek, who wanted the harassment to stop, agreed.
Sometime before Oct 29, 2025, Quek, as instructed by Travis, took photos and filmed the entrance and gate of a flat in Pasir Ris. She also took a video of herself slotting a debtor note into the gate.
Quek did the same to another victim in Bendemeer sometime before Oct 31, 2025.
Less than a month later, on Nov 18, 2025, she bought a raw pork hoof under Travis' instructions and packed it into an envelope before handing it over to another man. The man then placed the envelope with a debtor note outside the Bendemeer flat of a victim.
Two more victims found raw pork hooves outside their respective flats.
Some victims also had A4-sized documents with a photo of them holding their NRIC card, including front and back pictures, and hell notes mailed to their flat as well as their next-door neighbours.
Quek was arrested on Nov 25, 2025.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Xavier Tan sought 18 to 24 months' jail for the accused. He acknowledged that she had found herself in "unfortunate circumstances" but it still did not excuse her conduct.
He also noted that no lasting damage was inflicted upon any of the victims or their property.
Defence lawyer Ashvin Hariharan from Ashvin Law Corporation asked for no more than 18 months' jail, highlighting Quek's "sad situation" and provided WhatsApp messages between herself and Travis to show "the significant level of compulsion and coercion" she faced.
For each count of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, she could have been jailed up to five years and be liable for a fine.
"MOE takes a serious view of staff misconduct and will not hesitate to take disciplinary action against those who fail to adhere to our standards of conduct and discipline," the ministry said.
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