Restaurant owner arrives at Bukit Timah condo with $298 order, realises she may have been scammed
A restaurant owner is sounding the alarm on an alleged food delivery scam after she was left with almost $300 worth of food undelivered — and unpaid for.
Stomper Evon, who operates Forture Seafood Steam Boat at Bukit Timah Road, said she received a pre-order for collection at 7pm on May 16.
“We have a lot of customers calling for pre-order or bulk orders, and this (operates on) pure trust,” Evon told Stomp over the phone.
When she received a call from a man named B, she said the restaurant “took the order as normal”.
B ordered an array of dishes such as grouper fish, cereal prawns, Mongolian style beef and pork ribs, which amounted to $298.
B then called at around 7.15pm to request a delivery to his home instead, claiming that his car had broken down and he was unable to drive to the restaurant.
Evon said she agreed to it as the restaurant was less than a five-minute drive away from the destination that B had provided, which was at the Floridian, a condominium along Bukit Timah Road.
“He said he had transferred money to his father, so his father would be paying us,” the Stomper added.
Evon had no problems with this, as there were previous instances where the restaurant collected payment upon delivery.
‘Could not pass the guardhouse’
However, Evon’s troubles began when she arrived at the condominium.
“When I reached there, the security guard said he needed to check as the unit in question has had a few issues with delivery,” Evon said.
The Stomper was told that there had been at least two or three occasions that food delivery riders have turned up at the condominium, even though the unit’s occupants had not ordered food.
“I called the person and he insisted that his father was waiting for the food,” Evon recounted. “I demanded that he paid me via PayNow immediately, but he refused and said he had transferred his father the money.”
Based on a WhatsApp text chain seen by Stomp, Evon had asked B to make payment minutes before 8pm. However, B continued to insist that he had transferred the money to his father for payment upon delivery.
“Eventually, I had no choice but to make a police report,” the restaurant owner lamented.
By sharing her experience with Stomp, Evon hopes that the public — especially food and beverage businesses in the Bukit Timah area — will be more aware of the alleged scam.
“I believe he will do it again,” she said.
Stomp understands that the condominium has explicit instructions from residents of the said unit to reject all food deliveries unless otherwise specified.
As of June 3, Evon has not heard from B or received any payment for the order.
In response to a Stomp query, the police confirmed that a report was lodged.
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