Woman returns to eatery on Jan 3 to pay for meal she ate in July 2024
On July 6, 2024, a woman went to Khao Hom by Rung Mama at East Coast Road and ordered $196.20 worth of takeaway.
"She showed the employee behind the counter proof of bank transfer on her phone screen and left," Ms Cai, the 36-year-old owner of the Thai restaurant, told Lianhe Zaobao.
"The employee didn't notice anything unusual at the time."
However, Ms Cai could not find the record of the transfer when she checked the bank statement the following week.
"Unfortunately, the CCTV did not capture her face and it had been a while, so we did not report it to the police."
The woman showed up again at the restaurant on Dec 28.
"She ordered about $138.10 worth of food and showed a screenshot of the PayNow transfer at the counter."
The employee on duty sensed something amiss as the order was big for one person.
"She sent me a message to check the bank transfer even though she wasn't aware of the customer's fake payment months before," said Ms Cai.
"I saw that the money had not been transferred, so I asked the employee to stop the woman from leaving."
When the employee demanded payment, the woman relented and took out a physical bank card to settle her bill.
"Two days later, the woman came to eat again and spent $95.50," said Ms Cai.
"When 'paying', she kept chatting and asking to check the bill. I believe she wanted to repeat the same trick.
"I tried to take a video of her with my mobile phone and I believe she noticed it, so she immediately took out her card to pay."
On New Year's Day, Ms Cai uploaded the video screengrabs on social media.
Surprisingly, the woman returned to the eatery on Jan 3 and paid the $196.20 she owed for the meal last July.
She also wrote an apology letter in which she admitted her mistake and explained that she could not think straight because of an eating disorder.
Ms Cai has since taught her employees how to distinguish the authenticity of PayNow transfer records.
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