The Judiciary Police (PJ) urged residents on Friday in a statement to remain vigilant against food order scams.
According to the statement, the Judiciary Police have received a number of reports from restaurant owners that a person had impersonated a school staff member to order a vast amount of food that the restaurants did not have on their regular menus, adding that the purported school staff member instructed them to order the relevant ingredients from a mainland supplier, and the owners were told that they could earn a commission from the orders.
The statement noted that when the owners asked the “school staff” to pay for the order in advance, the “school staff” sent a photo of a purported bank transfer receipt and asked the owners to hold on to the bill as it would take several days to transfer the payment. The statement added that after the owners put the bill to one side, the “school staff” asked for additional orders. However, the statement underlined, the “school staff” never showed up at the restaurants and never paid, therefore, the owners finally contacted the school, which told them that it had never order any food from them. Afterwards, the owners lost contact with the “school staff” and the “supplier” who they had paid for the ingredients that they, however, never received, so they reported the case to the police, the statement noted, adding that the Judiciary Police are investigating the case.
The restaurant owners had paid the purported “supplier” for the ingredients they had ordered but never received, while the “school staff” had never paid for the food that he had ordered and never received it either, so the owners lost the money that they had paid to the “supplier”.
The Judiciary Police have received reports about several similar fraud cases. In order to prevent fraud, the police urged residents to be wary of transferring money to a stranger, underlining that any transfer records can be forged by software. The police also urged residents to spread the message to friends and family members to remind them not to fall for such scams, adding that they should call the police on hotline 8800 7777 or 993 when receiving any dubious business proposals.
This poster provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Friday informs the public about two anti-fraud hotlines.
