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[Update on Feb. 1: The noodle stall has found the customer and refunded him the balance of S$445.50.]

Cashless payments are all the rage these days because they are convenient and hygienic, but they can lead to costly errors for some if unintended payments go unreversed.

Xiao Mei Ban Mian, a noodles stall in Woodlands has turned to social media to crowdsource help to seek out a customer who very likely overpaid more than S$445 extra for a bowl of food.

Overpaid S$445.50

A Facebook post on Jan. 28 by Xiao Mei Ban Mian showed a screenshot of a successful but unusual S$450 single fund transfer receipt received by the outlet at Block 691 Woodlands Drive 73.

Most likely an elderly person

According to the post, the customer who made the fund transfer earlier that day was most likely an elderly diner who had wanted to pay S$4.50, but ended up transferring S$450 instead via DBS Paylah!, a mobile payment and mobile wallet service offered by DBS Bank.

The post said the stall "found an abnormal Nets QR code transfer to us" and that the "amount is $450 which is too much".

The identity of the diner was traced using the surveillance footage from the stall, the post said, but there is no way of contacting the customer directly post-sale.

The post appealed to the public for help in reaching out to the diner.

The post added: "We would like to return the extra amount $450-$4.50= $445.50 to that customer."

In the comment section of the post, the stall owner said she has reached out to Nets for help in locating the person who made the transfer.

The outcome is pending.

Commenters who responded to the appeal praised the stall owner for her honesty.

In an update on the Facebook post on Jan. 31 at 3:20pm, the stall posted that a manual refund has been submitted to Nets and the request will be processed.

Nets will contact DBS, with the bank transferring the excess money back to the customer.

Background

Xiao Mei Ban Mian is opened by Khine Zar Lin, who is originally from Myanmar and a software engineer of eight years.

She started her food business in Singapore after the software company she was working in shut down due to the pandemic.

The stall sells food that suit the Singaporean palate, as well as Myanmar-style dishes such as kyay oh, which comprises rice noodles and meatballs.

It has another outlet at Block 892C Woodlands Drive 50.

Top photos via Xiao Mei Ban Mian & Google Maps