Despite the convenience they bring, online payment methods come with risks too, as a kopitiam stall owner in Tampines recently learnt.
A customer apparently paid upwards of S$4,000 for an order that amounted to S$44 via PayNow.
Shocked by the amount, the stallholder had to check her phone multiple times to be sure she wasn’t seeing things.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the incident happened at 6.36am on Thursday (6 Apr) at a coffee shop or kopitiam at Block 201 Tampines Street 21.
Stallholders Mr Chen and his wife Madam Zhang (names transliterated from Mandarin) had only recently opened their stall about a month ago. Little did they expect such an incident to happen.
On that fateful morning, a woman who appeared to be in her 40s came and bought several orders of porridge and green bean soup which amounted to S$44.50.
She made payment via PayNow and swiftly left.
Madam Zhang, who was manning the stall alone at the time, only checked her phone properly a while later to confirm the transaction.
Upon seeing a staggering amount of S$4,450, she checked her phone multiple times to be sure that she had not seen it wrongly.
Madam Zhang reportedly wanted to locate the customer promptly but was unable to as there was nobody else to look after the stall.
Thankfully, the customer must have realised her mistake. Shin Min later reported that she returned two hours after the incident to request a refund.
Without hesitation, Madam Zhang processed the refund and returned the excess amount.
It’s understood that it was the first time the woman had paid using PayNow.
Hopefully, after the incident, she’ll be more careful with her online transactions.
Let this be a reminder to the rest of us to be cautious too.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News on Facebook and Google Maps.
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