A local student has taken to social media to share how he became the victim of a new scam tactic and warn others to be more careful of those they meet online.
In the now-deleted Reddit post, he recounted the events that led to him becoming RM1,610 poorer during a date with a woman he met through an online dating app.
‘Not the same person as her profile’
According to the post, the OP wrote that he was matched with the woman named ‘Yiyi’ on Tantan, who reportedly hailed from China.
Following a brief conversation, Yiyi asked him to move the conversation to WeChat and told him to meet her at a bistro located in Damansara Perdana.
Upon reaching there however, alarm bells were immediately set off in the OP’s head when he saw that Yiyi looked totally different from the picture in her profile. Nevertheless, he chose to go on with the date.
Little did he know that things were about to take a turn for the worst.
M’sian claims he was scammed of RM1.6K by woman
As the date went on, the OP said Yiyi ordered a pizza and gave him the food menu while she scoured the drinks menu. However, what happened next when he tried to make an order left him deeply puzzled.
When I tried to order a drink, the waiter straight up ignored me and went to the cashier instead. Weird, but okay.
“Then, she casually mentioned that she ordered wine and that we had to pay first. A few minutes later, the cashier showed up with the bill – RM1,610.08,” he wrote.
Upon seeing the bill, the OP told Yiyi that he couldn’t pay as he was just a student, but she told him that she couldn’t pay using Malaysian payment methods and instructed him to transfer the amount to “a Boost account under some random name”.
To his shock, the waiter then appeared with another bottle of wine after he paid RM1,610.08, leading him to suspect that it was a scam and walk out from the bistro.
Towards the end of the post, the OP had a word of advice for those looking to go out on a date with online strangers:
Moral of the story: If a date insists on choosing the place and things start feeling sketchy, trust your gut and get out.”
He added that a police report has been lodged and that he has filed a report with his bank as well.
Bistro responds to incident
In the post’s comment section, netizens pointed out that the bistro has been used to carry out such scams in the past, with some accusing it of colluding with the scammers.
However, the bistro owner has flatly denied the accusations and shared that he was approached by a group of Chinese people looking to rent several tables to promote wine.
“When I found out they were running a scam and thus affecting my business, I immediately told them to leave. The bistro doesn’t sell wine and we only offer food, non-alcoholic drinks and beer.
“My business caters to Indian customers around Damansara Perdana. I have been confronted by Chinese customers who come from far away places, such as Ampang, just to see a girl they met online who ends up scamming them. Yet, my business is taking the blame,” he lamented.
The owner also said he was only made aware of the incident when he saw the Reddit post and Google reviews.
“My business’s name isn’t even on the RM1,610 bills. Those are not my business’s bills. Should these customers have asked to see the owner when approached with these bills, I would have come to clarify things and kick the scammers out,” he said.
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