Woman pays with fake Paynow screenshots for 2 years, restaurant loses S$4,600

Digital payments have become the norm across all goods and services establishments, in no small part due to the convenience for buyers. But with this ease comes the need for businesses to keep an eagle eye on transactions; lapses can cost them big. One woman has allegedly cost a seafood restaurant over S$4,600 by using fake Paynow screenshots to avoid making payments.

This deplorable act is said to have taken place on 35 instances over 2 years at Home of Seafood. It was only discovered when the restaurant’s new accountant noticed a discrepancy 2 weeks ago. The owner of the restaurant informed Shin Min Daily News on 11 Sep that a screenshot of a payment totalling S$155.24 had been sent to them but no actual transaction ended up processed.

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Customers usually send screenshots to them over Whatsapp after purchases are made with Paynow for their delivery service, said the owner, also pointing out that verifying these payments was tedious. He hopes that this incident will serve as a warning for other eateries to perform rudimentary checks.

The restaurant has also filed a police report over the fake Paynow transactions. In the meantime, they are also exploring alternative payment methods.

While most netizens agree on the despicable nature of these fake Paynow screenshots, a small number seem to be placing the blame on the restaurant.

Some are of the opinion that we should return to a cash-only system as a solution to prevent worse scenarios in future.

Let’s just hope this is an isolated incident for the sake of both buyers and sellers.

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