A man recently spent almost S$900 at an izakaya in Punggol while on a date with a woman he met on a dating app.
The 49-year-old engineer purchased three bottles of wine for his date and her “sister”, who consumed them in a short amount of time.
After doing a bit of research after his unusual date, he realised that he might have fallen victim to a scam.
He has since filed a police report.
The man, Mr Qiu, told Shin Min Daily News that he started talking to the woman, who is about 30 years old, on the dating app Tantan.
Source: Tantan on Facebook, for illustration purposes only
The woman, “Nuo Nuo”, agreed to meet up with Mr Qiu after they had been chatting for two to three hours.
“I was a little sceptical, but she was willing to meet and gave me her phone number and home address, so I let my guard down,” he said.
After arriving at Block 405A Northshore Drive at 7.30pm, Nuo Nuo allegedly changed her address, telling Mr Qiu she lived at Block 406A.
Source: Google Maps
When he got lost and found himself at Block 406C, Nuo Nuo refused to go look for him.
After waiting nearly 20 minutes, Mr Qiu saw his date standing on the side of the road.
After walking for about five minutes, the two arrived at an izakaya in Punggol.
Mr Qiu told Shin Min Daily News he was expecting to have his date at a coffee shop instead.
After getting comfortable, Nuo Nuo told Mr Qiu she did not drink beer, only red wine.
The cheapest red wine on the menu was a 750ml bottle that cost about S$148.
However, his date wanted something bigger, so Mr Qiu ordered a one-litre bottle of Medinet Grenache — a sweet French wine — for S$248.
Source: Carousell, for illustration purposes only
“She asked if I thought the wine was expensive, but if the wine I ordered was not what she wanted, she might go somewhere else,” he said.
“I thought it didn’t matter at the time, so I ordered it immediately.”
When he got the bill, Mr Qiu did not expect that the wine would cost him S$270, including GST.
Source: Shin Min Daily News
What’s more, he had to make payment as soon as it was served.
Thinking the bottle would last for a few hours, Mr Qiu was baffled when Nuo Nuo drank most of it in 10 minutes.
Since Mr Qiu was a light drinker, he did not have much of the wine himself.
Later, Nuo Nuo requested another bottle and finished that in 10 minutes as well.
She then told Mr Qiu that her “sister” would be joining them.
Mr Qiu told Shin Min Daily News that the other woman ordered a third bottle of wine and, like Nuo Nuo, finished it in 10 minutes.
The women were about to order a fourth bottle when Mr Qiu grew suspicious.
At that point, he had already spent a total of S$870.
He told them that his card was maxed out so he could no longer buy more wine.
“When they realised I was not going to order more wine, they came up with a reason to leave,” he recalled.
The women asked Mr Qiu if he could book them a Grab ride to Bedok.
He declined, saying that it was not convenient for him.
Nuo Nuo did not back down and asked again if he could book them a Grab, this time to visit her “sister’s” boyfriend at Clarke Quay.
Mr Qiu refused again, claiming he was out of money and that he was going to take a bus.
That’s when they parted ways.
Feeling cheated, Mr Qiu decided to go online to check the price of the wine he had purchased on his date.
To his surprise, he discovered that a bundle of six bottles was selling at only S$185, or about S$30 each.
Further research led Mr Qiu to the izakaya’s Google review page, where he noticed other patrons accusing the venue of hiring women to lure customers into the establishment and order overpriced drinks.
Source: Google
Another patron claimed he ended up paying over S$600.
Source: Google
After discovering the true retail price of the wine, Mr Qiu contacted the izakaya on 30 March to confront the proprietor.
When asked why a bottle of wine was sold for S$270 instead of S$30 as seen online, they responded that prices were “transparent and fair” and all patrons were charged the same amount.
The izakaya added that the wines were priced that way so that rent and employees’ salaries could be paid, but Mr Qiu still finds the markup unreasonable.
He has since filed a police report and hopes to raise awareness about the matter.
MS News has reached out to the izakaya for comment.
Also read: 27-Year-Old Man Loses S$45K To Love Scam, Met ‘Woman’ Over Instagram
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Featured image from Shin Min Daily News and Carousell, for illustration purposes only.
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