Woman returns to Clarke Quay bubble tea shop to apologise after 'paying' S$79.60 with fake PayNow screenshot

After scamming Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea’s Clarke Quay outlet on Dec. 18, 2024, the culprit has returned to say sorry.

She was caught oon the store's CCTV camera using a fake PayNow screenshot to foot a bill amounting to S$79.60.

Five days later, the woman returned on Dec. 23 to pay the bill — but that wasn't all.

She came back again on Dec. 24 to hand over an apology note, according to a staff member who spoke to Mothership last week.

CCTV footage of the most recent visit showed her entering the store and speaking briefly to the employee behind the counter, before passing them the note.

Much regrets

In her apology letter addressed to the store, the woman said she’d gotten wind of reports on her misdeed via social media, and wished to confess her wrongdoing.

She said she wanted to “sincerely apologise for the dishonest action" and for the trouble she'd caused the shop's management, adding that she had "no excuse" for her actions.

She wrote:

“I am sorry it had to take the spreading of social media for me to own up when I should have had the conscience to own up earlier. I do not want to paint a whole sad story and blame my trouble past…”

She pleaded with the store to withdraw their police report and expressed her desire for the media reports on her to be taken down.

At the bottom of the note was a name and phone number.

Familiar modus operandi

Both the woman's chosen methods of scamming and apologising mirror that of another case, where a woman scammed a Thai restaurant in Katong in July 2024.

However, it is not known whether the same person was involved in both cases.

In the Katong case, a woman had used a fake PayNow screenshot to pay for a S$196.20 meal at Khao Hom by Rung Mama.

The woman later returned to the Thai restaurant on Jan. 3, 2025 with payment for the bill, as well as this apology note:

In yet another similar case, a woman allegedly pretended to settle a S$272.25 bill at an East Coast Road cafe on Aug. 30, 2024 with a doctored PayNow receipt.

According to the cafe owner, they managed to contact the woman after footage of the incident was shared online.

Apologetic, the woman paid the money she owed and explained that "she was going through something".

She promised that she would not do it again.

Top images via Mothership reader