Loan shark allegedly uses Foodpanda bak kut teh order to harass Malay resident, threatens to ‘burn the house down’
A Foodpanda delivery rider was allegedly caught up in a suspected loan shark harassment case after being asked to deliver a bak kut teh order to a Malay resident’s flat and contact a number on arrival, leading to a threat-laden phone call.
Speaking to Stomp, Rafael, the Foodpanda delivery rider, recalled that the incident occurred on May 11.
The 38-year-old said he collected an order from Parkson Bak Kut Teh, a hawker stall in Boon Lay, which was to be delivered to a unit at Jurong West Street 41.
According to screenshots he provided, the order was placed by “Ken Tan” and included instructions to send a WhatsApp message to a number upon arriving at the unit.
Describing it as a “common” request, Rafael said he did not initially suspect anything was amiss until he noticed Quranic verses displayed above the unit’s door — suggesting it belonged to a Muslim household.
He then contacted the number as instructed, where Ken requested a video call but kept his camera turned off. Rafael said he was subsequently asked to go to the door, which was answered by a Malay man.
“He was looking for someone, and the Malay man kept repeating that he doesn’t know who that person was. That was when it occurred to me that this could be a loan shark,” Rafael recalled.
Police investigations ongoing
During the call, Ken sent Rafael a photo of another man, identified as Riyaz, and asked if the resident knew him.
Rafael said the resident denied knowing the man in the photo, insisting that he had moved in recently and lived alone.
At this point, Rafael pleaded with Ken not to make his life difficult, explaining that he only wanted to complete his job and get paid for the delivery. Ken reassured him not to worry, even offering to double the delivery fee, and insisted that Rafael’s only role was to complete the drop-off.
“The loan shark then got agitated and started shouting and using profanities and threatened the Malay man that he would burn his house down,” Rafael added.
Rafael added that Ken also instructed him to ensure the resident had saved the alleged loan shark’s number and a photo of Riyaz.
After the call ended, Rafael said he did not receive any payment. He later filed an appeal through the rider app and was credited the $15 the following day.
According to Rafael, the resident said similar incidents had occurred on several occasions before, with the most recent in March. The resident added that he had previously lodged police reports following an earlier series of such incidents.
In response to Stomp’s queries, the police confirmed that a report was lodged and that they are looking into the matter.
Stomp has reached out to Foodpanda for comment.
Netizens call for ban on cash-on-delivery orders
Rafael later shared about the incident on the SingaporeRaw subreddit, where the post drew alarmed reactions from netizens.
Several shared similar experiences, saying that they had received letters from licenced moneylenders addressed to previous tenants.
“That’s just f*cked up. You should probably try reporting to the police,” one commenter wrote.
Some even called for cash-on-delivery to be banned, saying it was “ridiculous” and a “hassle”.
“Did part-time FP in the past and I hated COD. Not just because you need to bring change but sometimes the customer doesn’t pay due to being asleep, wanna cancel order but forgot etc. then end up you wasted all that time for nothing,” another commenter wrote.
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