Fei Zhu Lok Lok’s Influencer Hawker Loses $12.9K To Scammer Who Made Fake Order For Food
The scammer told Phyllis Seah he was from Yuhua Secondary School, and wanted to order for the school teachers 40 cartons of the Chinese dish Buddha Jumps Over the Wall from a Malaysian supplier.
F&B scams have been making their rounds in Singapore for a few years now — the ruse usually involves a caller ringing up eateries pretending to be a customer looking to place a large order.
The scam part comes in when the order becomes increasingly complicated, as the caller would insist that the eatery owner order expensive food or wine on his behalf and pay for them in advance.
One F&B owner who fell for the scam was Phyllis Seah, 27, who runs lok lok chain Fei Zhu Lok Lok. It currently has two hawker outlets and a mall restaurant.
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In an Instagram video dated July 25, the restaurant boss detailed that she received a WhatsApp call from one Mr Chen while she was holidaying in Bali.
He introduced himself as being from Yuhua Secondary School, which coincidentally was near Phyllis’ own alma mater, Fuhua Secondary School.
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According to Phyllis, Mr Chen explained that the school’s kitchen was under renovation (okay…) and wanted to order 130 rice bowls daily for lunch and dinner for eight consecutive days from her stall.
“I created a menu for him on the spot and I sent it to him and he said [everything] very good lah. I gave him the invoice, everything seemed super legit. And he kept telling me ‘cannot be late okay, this food is for the teachers’. I said ‘okay okay you can trust me’,” Phyllis recounted in the video.
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Scammer requested for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall
The next day, Mr Chen called her on WhatsApp again. “He said ‘sorry, my school wants to order Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, but we had a dispute with the Malaysian supplier. Can you order from them for me and send it together with your food?’,” said Phyllis, who added: “Then I think already, okay ah! No problem!”
She asked Mr Chen for the details of the Malaysian supplier, which was apparently a restaurant in Malaysia. “I never go and double check because… don’t ask me why. Maybe I’m in holiday [mood],” she exclaimed.
The ‘Malaysian supplier’ she called hurried her to transfer the payment if she wanted to get the goods quickly. Phyllis, who apparently paid $12,900 upfront, then asked Mr Chen to reimburse her, and he sent her screenshots of two separate online banking transactions.
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When Phyllis checked her bank account, the money was not deposited there, which she pointed out to Mr Chen. “He said, ‘don’t worry, we are a school and we have done this many times. The money will be in your account in a couple of hours,” she recalled.
He then requested to order 20 more boxes of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, which Phyllis obliged, but the Malaysian supplier again asked for immediate payment.
Not wanting to transfer any more money until she received Mr Chen’s payment, Phyllis said she eventually “felt weird” after waiting for over two hours and still saw no sign of the funds.
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That was when she got suspicious and scrutinised the transaction screenshots. She discovered a telling detail that gave away the scam: the first bank transfer that Mr Chen claimed to have sent at 12.10pm showed his phone with 62 per cent battery life. The second transfer screenshot, sent half an hour later at 12.41pm, also had the same amount of battery life left.
“S***. I got scammed $12,900,” exclaimed Phyllis, facepalming.
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She ended her video by saying: “Moral of the story is, if anyone engages you to do something or buy from you anything, make sure to verify the sources, name, address, UEN, and company details. Do not transfer! Do not be like me, so gullible. And I hope you guys will support my newest outlet at Kallang Wave Mall, recently launched my claypot lala hotpot. Please support my restaurant Fei Zhu Lok Lok to fund my scam money. Thank you very much.”
Photos: Fei Zhu Lok Lok
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