According to a media release, a 27-year-old man was sentenced to 7 days of jail after he was found guilty for not paying for food delivery for more than $700. The man faces 4 counts of cheating with 9 other charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing.
The man who stays at Choa Chu Kang had made several food orders on both GrabFood and FoodPanda between 25 Feb 2020 to 14 Mar 2020. He did not have the intention to pay for his orders.
He will choose the cash on delivery as the mode of payment and uses his neighbour’s address for ordering. He will then instruct the riders to leave the food outside the unit and he would transfer them the money via “Pay now” or “Paylah!”.
When the food arrived, he will go to his neighbour unit to collect the food. He had created multiple accounts to facilitate the scams. In one incident, the man ordered $91.59 worth of food from Foodpanda. Similarly, he uses the same method to cheat the rider stating that he needs to pick up his children from the hospital and instructed the rider to leave the food at his neighbour shoe rack. He then asked the rider for his number for the transfer which never happened.
Sensing something fishy, the rider returns to the unit and saw the food missing. The rider then knock on the unit and was notified that the owner that they did not order the food and was also informed that it is not the first time such a thing happened. After learning about the incident, the rider reported back to Foodpanda and a police report was lodged.
In total, the man had caused Grabfood and Foodpanda to lose $718.54 and he has since repaid the money back to the companies.
According to the law, for each charge of cheating, the man could be jailed for up to 3 years, fine or both.