“I Asked If He Was A Scammer, He Hung Up On Me” — Chinese Restaurant Owner Encounters F&B Reservation Cheat
The recently trending scam involves the scammer calling restaurants to make large bookings with expensive wine requests from a bogus supplier, for which the eatery has to order upfront by transferring money to a designated bank account.
A new phone scam has been making its rounds in Singapore lately, and it involves F&B businesses. One affected restaurant was Fortune Court in Chinatown, a Cantonese diner set up by former Peony Jade staff.
According to Fortune Court’s co-owner and restaurant manager Connie Chee, 55, the ruse involved a scam caller contacting her last Thursday to make a large reservation. “He wanted to book three tables for the next day and asked me to give him my most expensive menu including three big crabs,” she recalled.
Photo: Kelvin Chia
“I felt suspicious”
The caller had also wanted Connie to “help him order expensive wine from a selected supplier”, for which she was to pay upfront by transferring money to a bank account provided by the caller.
Connie was thrilled to get a large reservation, but informed the caller that he had to put down a deposit first. “We usually require a deposit of around $100 per table for large bookings, unless the customer is our regular,” she explained.She was being extra cautious as she had read recent Chinese news reports of a scam targeting F&B businesses with bogus reservations. She said: “I felt suspicious about this call, so I requested a deposit upfront. I told the caller to PayNow me and I will only place the wine order for him when I receive the money. He said, ‘No problem’. But when I jokingly asked him if he was a scammer, he immediately hung up on me.”
Photo: Kelvin Chia
In a CNA report, the Singapore Police Force warned F&B operators about this particular scam, for which at least five victims had already fallen prey this month and lost a total of S$73,500.
The report also highlighted that the scammers would sometimes provide fake screenshots of bank transfers when prompted by F&B staff to pay for their special supplier orders upfront. Some restaurants - which were reassured by the screenshot but had not checked their account - would then proceed to order from the scammer’s specified supplier, only to eventually realise that the company did not exist.
The SPF also reminded F&B owners to check for a supplier’s legitimacy before forking out to buy their goods.
Photo: Connie Chee
Connie reckoned that if she had not read about the scam in the news, she would have fallen for the ruse. “Most of our customers don’t have a Chinese accent, or try to make a reservation for three tables at the last minute. They would usually book at least a week in advance. So when this happened, it was very fishy,” she said.After the caller hung up on her, she did not attempt to contact him again. “I felt that if he was a genuine customer, he would have called me back. So when he didn’t, it meant that he was likely a scammer. And his phone number started with +65 [which is a common prefix for scam call numbers].”
Photo: Kelvin Chia
She also voiced out about the pain that restaurant owners feel about landing a big reservation post-pandemic, only to be let down. “If I didn’t see the news articles, I would have been very happy to get such a large booking. Each table could roughly accumulate a spending of $700 to $800 with crab orders,” she said, adding: “Some restaurants don’t mind paying upfront for VIP customers. They believe the customer would pay them back and the restaurant can earn money [by offering good service]. F&B businesses are banking on such high-spending customers these days.”
Fortune Court is at 31 Pagoda Street, S059190. Open daily except Tue, 11am-3pm; 5.30pm-10pm. www.facebook.com/fortunecourtsg.Related topics
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