'I hope others won't be cheated like me': Viral Mandarin-speaking Indian zi char chef scammed of $27k by 'customer'

Months after opening his zi char stall at a coffee shop in Ang Mo Kio, he ended up being cheated of over $27,000 by a 'customer'.

The latest victim of an F&B scam is zi char chef Devid Retanasamy, who manages a coffee shop stall in Ang Mo Kio.

Devid, who is of Indian ethnicity, had previously gone viral for his ability to speak fluent Mandarin as well as other Chinese dialects.

The 40-year-old is chef of Mr Blecky Seafood, located at Block 603 Ang Mo Kio Ave 5. The stall opened earlier this year.

It currently occupies the unit which was previously The Blacky Seafood, which Devid was a part of before relations with the owners purportedly soured. 

Devid told Shin Min Daily News how he had received an order last Saturday (Aug 5) from a person who claimed to be an employee at a local primary school.

The person who texted Devid claimed that they would be holding a celebration for some school staff members the next day and asked to reserve five tables as well to pre-order dishes for the dinner.

The 'customer' also asked Devid to supply five crates of red wine for the event, and gave him a contact to place the order.

Later on, however, the customer stated that there would be more attendees and increased the number of crates to 20. The bill for the entire dinner, in addition to the dishes ordered, came up to $14,795.

After being sent the bill, the customer claimed to have transferred the money but the amount was still not in the bank account, shared Devid.

Upon further questioning, the customer stated that they were still processing the paperwork for the invoice which would require another two hours.

In the interim, the customer told Devid how they were very pleased with his good service and had decided to host another dinner on Aug 7 at the coffee shop. Devid was then instructed to purchase another 16 crates of wine for the event.

When Devid wanted to share the revised bill with the customer, however, he found that the messages between them, as well as those with the red wine supplier had been deleted. 

Devid told Shin Min that he'd suffered losses amounting to $27,000 as a result of the scam.

This included the 36 crates of red wine totalling $18,000 as well as the purchase of ingredients which came up to $9,000. 

"The person ordered items such as crabs, which are not cheap and require pre-ordering. But in the end they didn't come so the ingredients were all wasted."

Devid shared that at the time, he'd only considered the benefits that the business would bring to the stall and did not suspect that it could all be a scam.

"The customer's mobile phone number was local and the red wine supplier also provided an invoice which looked legitimate so I believed them," he said.

Put in a difficult situation

Devid revealed that following the loss, he has been put in a difficult situation as he still has to pay his employees' salaries and rent.

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"Thankfully the employees have been very supportive of me. By speaking out on this issue, I hope others won't be cheated like me," said Devid, who's also made a police report.

According to Shin Min, a statement issued by the police in December 2022 had called for businesses to be wary of such scams.

A spate of similar incidents had occurred in July last year, including one chicken rice hawker who received a request to cater meals for 30 people over a consecutive period of 11 days.

However, the hawker's suspicions were aroused when she was asked to purcase bottles of red wine and rejected the request.

The owners of Outram Ya Hua Rou Gu Cha as well as Tan Ser Seng Herbs Restaurant had also told Shin Min Daily News how they were victims of similar scam calls and had fallen for the ruse.

candicecai@asiaone.com

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