House of Seafood sends out $576.60 order after getting PayNow screenshot — that turned out to be fake
A Punggol restaurant is warning other F&B businesses to verify payments carefully after incurring losses, no thanks to a customer who allegedly sent a fake PayNow screenshot for a large food order.
Stomper Victoria, a House Of Seafood representative, told Stomp that the restaurant received the order via phone on July 5 at around 4.30pm.
The caller, who spoke Mandarin and sounded like a “Singaporean man in his 30s”, placed a food delivery order worth $576.60. The items ordered include:
- Two white pepper crabs
- Two curry crabs
- Stir-fried scallops with broccoli
- Kangkong
- Cereal prawns
- Curry fish head
- Eight packets of white rice
The customer subsequently sent a screenshot showing that the payment had been made.
As the restaurant was busy preparing orders, the manager assumed the payment had gone through and planned to verify it with the finance team later.
According to Victoria, this is a common practice when dealing with customers who send payment screenshots, with payment subsequently verified against the restaurant’s account.
The delivery was arranged via Lalamove to a unit at Block 340 Jurong East Avenue 1 — though hiccups soon arose.
The delivery driver first went to the unit provided in the Lalamove booking, but the resident there allegedly told the driver that she did not order any food.
Victoria said the customer then contacted the Lalamove driver and provided another unit number four storeys below. The driver subsequently went to this unit and left the food outside.
It was only in the midst of delivery that the restaurant staff realised the $576.60 payment had not gone through.
“By the time the payment discrepancy was discovered, the food had already been handed over for delivery via Lalamove,” Victoria told Stomp.
After learning of this, the restaurant tried to retrieve the food two to three hours later at around 8pm, but the food was no longer there.
Victoria said the restaurant lodged a police report thereafter.
“We cannot confirm whether loan sharks or any other parties were involved, and we have reported the matter to the relevant parties for investigation,” she added.
She also said that police had spoken to the occupants of the second delivery address, but they were apparently unaware of what had transpired.
In response to Stomp’s queries, the police confirmed that a report was lodged.
Restaurant warns against relying only on payment screenshots
Victoria said she was unable to confirm the motive behind the order or whether anyone else was involved.
“Based on the circumstances surrounding this incident, we suspect the order may have been used for purposes other than purchasing food,” she shared.
“Regardless of the motive, our restaurant suffered a direct loss of $576.60, excluding the cost of ingredients, manpower, packaging, preparation time, and the damage caused to our operations,” the Stomper said.
House of Seafood is warning F&B businesses not to rely solely on payment screenshots, especially for large orders.
Businesses should verify that the funds have been credited to their bank accounts or confirmed by their finance teams before proceeding with orders.
“If using third-party delivery platforms such as Lalamove, ensure payment has been fully verified before handing the order to the delivery rider,” advised Victoria.
Lalamove will cooperate fully with investigations
In response to Stomp’s queries, Lalamove said on July 27 that it had maintained close communication with the restaurant and spoken with the driver involved.
“Based on our investigation, the driver partner remained in contact with the recipient during the delivery and followed instructions provided by the recipient, and took the necessary steps to document the completed delivery,” said a spokesperson.
Lalamove added that the falsified payment was a separate matter between the restaurant and the recipient.
“We will continue to look into the circumstances of the delivery and cooperate fully with any investigation by the relevant authorities, including providing the necessary information where required,” the spokesperson said.
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