A 33-year-old Filipino national pleaded guilty on Tuesday (11 Nov) to charges including cheating and theft.
She had used edited PayNow screenshots to cheat restaurants in Singapore into delivering over S$9,000 worth of food for over two years.
According to CNA, Ms Santos-Tumalip Maria Monalyn Bagaporo started ordering food from the Home of Seafood restaurant at Joo Chiat Place in May 2022.
She used PayNow as the payment method for the food.
Instead of paying the restaurant, Bagaporo used PayNow to transfer money to herself and proceeded to take a screenshot of the transaction record.
She then used an app to edit the screenshot, making it look like it was a payment to the restaurant.
Sometimes, Bagaporo would also edit details of the sender’s account, making it appear like she was paying from different accounts.
She then sent these edited screenshots to the restaurant through WhatsApp as proof of payment.
Although the restaurant manager checked the screenshots to verify the amount sent as well as the date of the transaction, she did not check the bank records to ensure the payments were made.
Between May 2022 and Aug 2023, Bagaporo cheated the restaurant over 35 times using this method and received about S$3,892 worth of food.
Bagaporo reportedly did this as she “wanted to order food for her friends and impress them”.
In Sept 2023, the restaurant manager checked the bank account statements and noticed several instances where a customer had sent proof of payment on PayNow, but no corresponding payment were made.
The restaurant manager then filed a police report claiming a customer had cheated the restaurant.
Source: Home of Seafood
Baci Baci, an Italian restaurant in Serangoon, was tricked using the same method between June 2024 and May 2025.
Source: Baci Baci
Over the period, Bagaporo made 24 orders worth about S$6,168 from the restaurant via WhatsApp.
The restaurant lodged a police report on 25 May after discovering that no actual payment was made.
A hair salon in Stamford Road was tricked sometime this year with the same methods.
Bagaporo posed as a person named “Tom” who wished to purchase a voucher for her sister.
Using a fake payment screenshot, she used the voucher at the salon for a hair treatment worth S$381.50.
On the same day, she tried to buy another gift voucher with a new fake screenshot.
The director of the hair salon later realised payment had not been made for either voucher and repeatedly asked Bagaporo to make payment in the following weeks.
After she made excuses for why she could not pay, the salon director filed a police report in July.
When the SPF contacted her for a statement, she deleted all WhatsApp messages with the salon, obstructing the course of justice.
Bagaporo later admitted to stealing about S$739 worth of groceries from a Giant supermarket outlet in Bedok in Nov 2024.
Bagaporo eventually made compensation to Home of Seafood and the salon.
The prosecution asked for 23.5 to 27 months imprisonment for Bagaporo, saying her “lagrant and recalcitrant offending” behaviour deserved an adequate sentence.
She had reportedly reoffended while on bail and repeatedly committed the same trick to cheat businesses, stated the prosecutor.
Bagaporo was sentenced to 23 months’ jail on Thursday (13 Nov).
Also read: Man allegedly used edited PayNow screenshot for electronics at Suntec City, charged with cheating
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Featured image adapted from TheSmartLocal and MS News.