UPDATE (22 Jun, 4pm): Grab has banned the errant user involved in the case.
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Contactless deliveries have become rather popular during the Covid-19 pandemic, as most of us seek to minimise our transmission risks.
When it comes to food deliveries, it’s common for riders to hang the items on customers’ gates and notify them when it’s ready for collection.
One GrabFood rider, however, found himself in an alleged scam after doing so.
Claiming that the food had disappeared, the delivery person was apparently surrounded by a group of individuals before being forced into paying for the food.
In a Facebook post last Friday (18 Jun), a netizen shared that her friend, a GrabFood rider, recently became a victim of an alleged scam.
The rider had apparently hung an order comprising 5 bowls of noodles on the gate handle and informed the customer upon doing so.
Source
About 10 minutes later, the rider received a call from the customer, claiming that the food had gone missing.
The customer then asked the rider to return to the unit to “search for the food”.
When he went back to the apartment, the rider allegedly found himself surrounded by the customer and 5 other individuals, asking him to pay for the meal, amounting to $62.40.
When the rider suggested for the customer to contact Grab for the refund, the latter replied that the company had closed for the day.
The customer also allegedly claimed to be lazy and reluctant to escalate matters when the rider proposed waiting till the next day or contacting them via email.
Without any cash on him, the rider told the customer that he’d transfer the amount using Paynow later in the afternoon.
However, he allegedly wasn’t allowed to go before leaving his contact and letting them take pictures of his NRIC.
Afraid that his NRIC details might be misused, the GrabFood rider proceeded to lodge a police report over the incident.
He also contacted Grab about the incident and received confirmation that the customer had been refunded.
However, things later got more sus when the rider revisited a picture he took of the order details displayed on the customer’s phone.
At the top of the picture, it showed that the person who made the delivery has a 5-star rating and rides a bicycle.
In contrast, the affected rider apparently has a 4.96 rating and gets around on a power-assisted bicycle (PAB).
The netizen took the opportunity to warn other delivery riders of similar scams, urging them to be wary.
MS News has reached out to Grab for a statement on this matter and will update this article accordingly.
Though this remains a one-sided story, the allegations are pretty disturbing if they’re true.
Contactless deliveries inherently comprise a system of trust, which shouldn’t be abused for one’s benefit.
The whole system works well if we’re guided by our integrity, but it only takes a handful of black horses for it to go South.
Ultimately, we hope Grab gets to the bottom of this incident and that other delivery riders will be wary of the potential scam.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from Facebook and sgCarMart, for illustration purposes only.
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