Six men, aged 14 to 23, have been arrested for criminally intimidating a 53-year-old man who refused to pay handling fees to a Tsuen Wan money-lending agency.

Police have received 19 complaints against the agency at Nam Fung Centre for its exorbitant handling fees since 2004. The fees included a $250 handling charge, an address verification fee up to $500, and $800 administrative charge.

The applicant would further be charged for an additional guarantor's charge of a few thousand dollars when the company referred the applicant to obtain a standard $5,000 loan from a designated licensed money lender.

The applicants were instructed to sign an agreement which stated that all the aforesaid charges would be paid once the application was approved no matter the applicants accepted the loans or not. Most applicants paid no heed to the terms and conditions and only discovered the facts after signing the agreement.

On August 17, the 53-year-old applicant told Police he was urged by unknown people to settle the payment and was criminally intimidated. Tsuen Wan District Crime Squad officers raided the company this morning and arrested the six. One computer and eight boxes of documents were seized.