SCAMMERS are a growing epidemic in Malaysia and some of these fraudsters are sometimes on dating apps, looking to take lonely singles for a ride.
A young man recently shared his experience of falling victim to a ‘red wine scam’, which has been around for some time.
According to an article by Sin Chew Daily , the ‘red wine scam’ is common in Malaysia and Singapore, involving attractive women from social media platforms or dating apps luring mostly single men for a date to mostly pubs or bars, rack up the bill which the men will pay for and will earn her a nice commission on the side.
Multimedia designer Christopher Ling Yew Siong took to Facebook to detail his encounter on meeting the Chinese-Taiwanese woman for a date, spending RM1,600 on red wine only.
“The woman decided to meet up at a mamak restaurant for our date. I arrived at our destination at 7.45pm and ordered an iced tea and one roti canai. At around 8pm, she tells me to meet her up at another location by 8.17pm.
“I walked over after I packed my food and after we met, we were looking around for a place to eat. Then, I suggested that we eat at a mamak restaurant but she told me ‘I don’t eat that’. I should have been more vigilant when she said that,” he said.
After a few minutes of walking, the couple stopped at a bar after a promoter approached them and Ling’s date took the lead and ordered a red wine from the menu handed to them by the promoter.
The multimedia designer also noted that he wanted to read the menu’s contents but it was “snatched” away by the promoter.
“Are you sure you have not been to this place?” he asked the woman after a decanter of red wine arrived at their table.
She replied: “No. This is my first time coming here.”
While they were drinking the wine, the woman asked for some ice and the same promoter came and took his glass away and added the ice.
“After a few sips, I began to feel a little fuzzy and dizzy at first but I still held on and drank some water to sober up,” he added.
When it was time to pay, Ling used his debit card on the promoter’s payment terminal machine and entered his pin code. To his horror, he saw the machine display the total which came up to an exorbitant sum of RM1,610.08.
He then inquired the promoter about the wine and they just told him that he ordered the “French red wine”. He grabs the menu the promoter gave him which revealed that the wine cost RM1,200 plus service tax. It dawned on him that he had been scammed.
Ling was outraged, angry at his date, but merely said that she did not know that it was “so expensive” using the excuse of the promoter pushing the wine.
She then suggested splitting the bill, handing him RM550 in cash, which he inspected for authenticity on the spot, upsetting the woman for being distrustful towards her, but he just said that “it was a matter of trust”.
At around 9pm, Ling said that his date wanted to leave with her friends and he was quite taken aback, saying that it was quite early for her to leave the date.
“Otherwise, there is nothing left to drink or should we go somewhere else to eat?” she said, however, he turned her down fearing that he would be scammed a second time.
After the woman left, Ling turned to the other customers drinking at a table next to his who confirmed that the woman had previously been with six other men.
“This woman has been here for a long time already. You are the seventh person seen with her,” one of the customers said, adding that they only paid RM150 for their drinks after Ling asked them about the price.
Ling also asked the staff working at the bar, who also told him that the promoter did not work there and did not know how she had access to their wine glasses and other glassware as they were busy serving customers, unable to pay attention to who is working where.
As for the receipt, Ling discovered that the receipt handed by the promoter had a different address from the bar he was in, according to a report by SAYS.
He has already lodged a police report on the issue.
