S'pore man, 37, harassed with food deliveries after maid's personal details used to borrow money from loan shark

A 37-year-old man in Singapore has been harassed with food deliveries after his foreign domestic worker's personal details were used to borrow money from a loan shark.

The 31-year-old foreign domestic worker has been working for the man since November 2024.

The man told Shin Min Daily News that upon returning to his home in Punggol after a family dinner on Aug. 17, he found a Grabfood delivery rider standing outside his door.

The rider told him that a food order was placed by his foreign domestic worker, but the man noticed that the name on the order differed from his foreign domestic worker's name by one letter.

Not the first time

According to Shin Min, when the man asked his foreign domestic worker what was going on, she told him that she was not the one who placed the order and revealed that there had been another two deliveries made earlier that night.

A total of three food deliveries were made, and all of them were cash-on-delivery orders.

The man told Shin Min that he and his foreign domestic worker refused to pay for the food as they did not order them.

Instead, he explained the situation to the delivery rider and told him to lodge a report on the GrabFood platform.

The man added that on Aug. 18, two more food deliveries were made to his house, one at 12:30am and one at 4pm.

Food cost about S$30 each time

Upon visiting his house later that night, a Shin Min reporter also noticed another food delivery order comprising two fried bee hoon sets and two nasi lemak sets outside the man's house.

The order cost about S$36.

The man said most of the food delivery orders they received cost about S$30.

As they did not accept any of the orders, some of the food delivery riders would take the food with them, while others would proceed to leave it outside the man's house.

Disclosed personal info to someone she knew in Hong Kong

Shin Min reported that the foreign domestic worker eventually revealed to her employer that she had disclosed her personal information to someone she knew in Hong Kong, and the person later used the data to borrow money from a loan shark.

"The person had borrowed S$470 from a loan shark and was supposed to repay the loan shark S$670, including principal and interest, on Aug. 17. However, the person was unable to fork out the money and we have been harassed ever since," said the man.

The man learnt that after receiving the personal information, the person in Hong Kong reached out to another foreign domestic worker in Singapore to register a SIM card and then proceeded to borrow money from the loan shark.

The man said that even though the person is in Hong Kong, a local Singapore phone number was used to borrow money.

The loan shark also allegedly used a Singapore phone number and asked for the repayment to be made to a local bank account.

However, the foreign domestic worker had never contacted the loan shark before, the employer claimed.

The man’s wife further added that her name and address had been leaked as well.

She stated that the case was not simple and that she did not understand the motive behind it.

"I am not sure if my foreign domestic worker was involved, but the person in Hong Kong had previously told her to ask me for money to help her repay her debts," said the man's wife.

Shin Min confirmed with the police that a report has been lodged and investigations are ongoing.

Man put up a sign outside his door

Following the harassment, the man put up a sign outside his door to inform GrabFood delivery riders of the situation.

The sign read:

“Dear Grab, we did not order anything. We have filed a police report as it has been happening repeatedly. Please contact your Grab officer.”

The man also stated that he has lodged two police reports.

Given an alarm by the police

The man said the police gave him an alarm bell.

The alarm sensor is solar-powered, and can be switched to different modes.

The man said that when someone approaches their door at night, the alarm will sound, and red and blue warning lights will flash.

They can also opt to turn off the alarm and only have the warning lights flash.

However, the man said he is unsure whether or not to utilise the alarm as it will ring at 129 decibels and he is concerned that it will disturb his neighbours.

Top photos via Canva, Shin Min Daily News