‘Cockroaches in my food’: Man allegedly uses restaurant's own Google photos to demand S$300
A restaurant owner spotted an alleged scam after discovering that photos sent by a man demanding S$300 had been taken from the restaurant's own Google reviews. (For illustration purposes only)
SINGAPORE: A restaurant owner nearly fell victim to an alleged scam after a man claimed he had found cockroaches in his food and demanded S$300 in compensation. The owner later discovered that the photos sent as evidence had been taken from the restaurant's own Google reviews.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the 50-year-old restaurant owner received a WhatsApp message from the man, who claimed he had found cockroaches in the food he ordered from the restaurant the previous day.
The man sent several photos along with a receipt showing a bill of about S$110, and demanded S$300 in compensation.
The owner said he was shocked and frightened by the complaint. He apologised to the man and was initially willing to take full responsibility.
However, something about the complaint did not sit right with him. He told the man that the restaurant would need a week to investigate the matter, but the man refused to wait. He claimed he urgently needed the money and threatened to report the restaurant to the authorities if the owner did not pay up.
“If he was so short of money, why did he go out to eat? And spend over $110?” the owner questioned.
The owner also noticed several suspicious details. The man was using a Malaysian phone number and had enabled WhatsApp's disappearing messages feature, which automatically deletes messages after 24 hours.
He also found it strange that the cockroach in the photos was in such an obvious spot that it would have been difficult for the restaurant's staff not to notice it.
The owner later checked the restaurant's Google reviews and was shocked to find an identical photo among the comments. The dishes shown in the image were the same, with only the lower-left corner appearing to have been edited.
“Their methods were rather clumsy; they simply downloaded photos directly from the latest comments, processed them with AI, and then sent them to us. We later discovered that even the receipts were found in Google comments,” the owner said.
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In other related news, a man recently complained that a congee shop owner refused to provide a detailed breakdown of his S$180 bill for an order meant to feed 10 people.
“I was a little surprised and asked for a receipt with details. After all, I don't know if $180 is expensive for 10 people. I just want to understand how the price is calculated,” the man said.
Read more about the news story here.