Restaurant owner warns of suspected fake payment screenshot after S$288.85 order is sent to seemingly unwitting resident
A restaurant owner in Singapore has warned fellow F&B businesses to verify payments directly through their bank accounts after a man allegedly sent a payment screenshot for a S$288.85 takeaway order, even though the money was never received.
Yuki Tran, 37, who owns Ăn Là Ghiền, a Vietnamese restaurant in Geylang, shared the incident in a Facebook post on 13 Aug.
She said the incident happened on 12 Aug, when a first-time customer placed a takeaway order worth nearly S$300.
Image courtesy of Yuki Tran
Customer sends screenshot showing supposedly successful payment
According to Ms Tran, the man first called the restaurant at around 5.14pm.
Her staff subsequently sent him a link to place his order, and at around 5.19pm, he selected his food and sent the order back to the restaurant.
At around 5.50pm, the restaurant sent him a QR code for payment.
About seven minutes later, at 5.57pm, the man sent a screenshot that appeared to show the payment had been successfully made.
Image courtesy of Yuki Tran
Believing that payment had been made, staff prepared the order and arranged for a Lalamove rider to deliver it.
Customer allegedly provided address of resident who had not ordered food
The food arrived at the address provided by the customer at around 7pm.
However, the resident refused to accept the order and told the Lalamove rider that they had never ordered any food from the restaurant.
Ms Tran said her staff then called the customer to clarify the situation, but he repeatedly insisted that the delivery address was correct.
The Lalamove rider also contacted him and received the same response.
Eventually, the rider became suspicious and returned the food to the restaurant.
Image courtesy of Yuki Tran
Ms Tran was informed about the incident at around 7.05pm and immediately checked the restaurant’s bank account.
She then discovered that the S$288.85 payment had not been credited, despite the earlier screenshot appearing to show a successful transaction.
Speaking to MS News, Ms Yuki said the money itself was not her main concern.
The S$288.85 is not a big amount for me, but I feel very worried because fake transactions like this make me lose trust.
Image courtesy of Yuki Tran
She added that the incident meant she would now have to be more cautious about relying on payment screenshots.
“Now I need to do more work on checking the bank account [for every transaction in the future].”
Customer allegedly claimed his friend had eaten the food and fallen ill
After discovering that the payment had not gone through, Ms Tran personally called the customer to ask what had happened.
He allegedly claimed that his friend had already eaten the food, felt unwell afterwards, and was waiting for an ambulance to take him to hospital.
Ms Tran said this did not make sense, as the food had never been delivered and had already been returned to the restaurant.
Source: Ăn Là Ghiền – Authentic Vietnamese Cuisine on Facebook
She then asked him to send her a photo of the food his friend had supposedly eaten, but the man replied that they had already finished everything and could not provide one.
Ms Tran subsequently told him that she would report the matter to the police over the suspected fake payment receipt and the disruption caused to the business.
She told MS News that the man then allegedly mocked her and made an inappropriate sexual remark, telling her to go to his house to “làm tình”, a Vietnamese expression meaning to have sex.
Ms Tran said she felt “upset, disrespected, and concerned” by his behaviour.
Image courtesy of Yuki Tran
“What disturbed me more was that when I told him I would report the matter to the police for investigation, he did not seem worried or take the matter seriously,” she said, adding that she did not retaliate or argue with him.
“I remained calm, informed him that I would report the matter to the police, and decided to let the authorities investigate and handle the situation.”
Ms Tran has since blocked the man’s number and said she has not received any further calls or messages from him.
She was also unable to verify his identity. Based on his voice, she suspected that he could be a Malaysian or Singaporean man aged around 50 or older, though she stressed that this was only her personal impression.
Restaurant owner files police report over suspected scam or malicious prank
Ms Tran filed a police report on 13 Aug, saying she strongly suspected that the incident was a deliberate scam or malicious prank.
She said the incident resulted in the restaurant preparing a large order and arranging delivery even though no payment had been received.
The food was ultimately returned only after the Lalamove rider became suspicious of the situation.
Ms Tran later shared the incident publicly to warn other F&B operators and business owners not to rely solely on screenshots showing that a payment was “successful”.
Image courtesy of Yuki Tran
Instead, she urged businesses, particularly when handling large orders, to check that the money has actually been credited to their bank account before proceeding.
“Verify the money in your account, not just the payment screenshot,” she wrote in her Facebook post.
She also clarified that she was not accusing the resident at the delivery address, whose address appeared to have been misused without their knowledge.
In response to media enquiries from MS News, the Singapore Police Force confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.
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Featured image courtesy of Ms Yuki.
