Loan shark orders $573 worth of food to harass debtor

A restaurant owner was duped by a loan shark into delivering $573 worth of food to harass a debtor in Woodlands on Dec 22.

House Of Seafood owner Francis Ng told 8World that a man called the restaurant at 10.45pm to order black pepper crab, chili crab, red grouper, clams, seafood casserole and rice, which came up to $573.45.

After ordering, the man said he could not use PayNow and could only pay in cash.

“I had no reason to refuse his business,” said Mr Ng. “So I made an exception and personally delivered the food to his home.”

When he arrived at the address given to him with the food, a male occupant opened the door.

The occupant was a little surprised to see Mr Ng and thought it was a friend who ordered food to be delivered to him.

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“He was about to take the food, but then found out that it hadn’t been paid. So he said he didn’t order it,” recounted Mr Ng.

“I called the man who ordered the food. He said that the address was correct and asked me to do a video call. He wanted to speak with the occupant.”

When Mr Ng started the call, the man and the occupant shouted at each other through the mobile phone screen.

The man asked the occupant to pay back the money he owed. The occupant said: “If you have the guts, collect the debt yourself! I want to call the police!”

Mr Ng then realised that he had been tricked by the loan shark to become an “errand boy”.

In the heat of the moment, the restaurant owner could not ask anyone to pay for the food. So he just ended the call and left.

As it was late at night, Mr Ng said the only thing he could do with the $573 worth of food was throw it away, which was a waste.

After learning what happened to Mr Ng, the restaurant manager who took the order earlier told 8World that he called the man back.

He said: “The man still replied and said he wasn’t home at the time and wanted us to deliver the food again. I told him to pay first. After that, he didn’t reply to our messages or pick up our calls again.”