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Over the years, we’ve come across news about scams involving F&B establishments — restaurants receiving fake PayNow screenshots, a kopitiam stall owner scammed out of S$27,000 by a “customer” who never showed up, amongst others.
Just a few days ago, Jin Ji Teochew Braised Duck & Kway Chap owner, Melvin Chew nearly fell victim to a scam when a caller from an unknown number tried to trick him into preparing 10 packets of duck rice with extra ingredients.
While I understand that some scams benefit the perpetrator, who can get away with free food, I’m still trying to figure out the true motive behind this incident. Sabotage? A personal vendetta? Pure mischief? Anyone has any idea?
Mr Chew shared that when he initially picked up the call and said hello, the guy was silent for at least 5 seconds. That long pause made him suspicious.
“My mind was telling me that the person might have a name list with him and had probably lost track of which number he had dialled.” Mr Chew said.
He stated that since the person had failed to make any advance payment for the order, he insisted that he arrive at his stall at Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre before he’d proceed with preparing his food.
The guy declined, and told Mr Chew to prepare his food first as he was rushing for time. He then ended the phone call.
Mr Chew added, “He didn’t ask me what the total cost was. When I asked him what ingredients he wanted to top-up, he told me to make the decision for him.”
He then received several calls from the same number but didn’t pick up. Subsequently, Mr Chew returned the call but there wasn’t any response.
At this point, Mr Chew was confident that he was being scammed. He proceeded to upload a screenshot of his call history on his Hawkers United – Dabao 2020 Facebook group. He warned other hawkers to be more vigilant towards advance ordering and urged them to accept payment before proceeding.
Since the post had clearly stated the mobile number: +65 8946 1932, Mr Chew then received messages from his Facebook group members that this particular handphone number had been reported by several others as well.
Having nearly fallen for a scam myself, I sincerely hope the authorities will take action—steadily but surely—against these perpetrators.
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