2 bakeries & nasi lemak stall in S'pore also get fake 150-portion bulk orders from ‘SAF personnel’

Three more local F&B businesses have been targeted by individuals claiming to be from the military.

Sedap Nasi Lemak, Breaditation Bakery, and Yi Jia Bakery all reported being contacted for bulk orders, preparing the requested food, and getting ghosted when the collection time came around.

In all three cases, the modus operandi was similar:

1. A person called or texted, claiming to be from the army;
2. They placed an urgent bulk order for 150 people;
3. They refused to pay in advance;
4. Come collection time, they failed to show up.

Incident #1

On Sep. 11, Sedap Nasi Lemak — which has two outlets at Thomson Road and one-north — posted about its encounter on Instagram.

A few days before, on Sep. 8, the stall had received a call from a young man who gave his name as "Luke Wong" (remember this, it's important).

"Wong" claimed he was from Bedok army camp, and said he was calling to place an urgent bulk order for the next day.

The order was for 150 portions of nasi lemak and 150 bottles of water.

When the stall owner asked for advance payment, "Wong" said they needed documentation from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) for approval.

But on the day of delivery, "Wong" said that there had not been enough time to get the approval.

The stall decided to proceed with the order anyway.

"Our whole team was mobilised and everybody was excited that we had a big deal to supply the army, and everybody could get some bonus for that day," the stall said.

But when collection time came at 1pm, "Wong" failed to show.

The staff's calls to him also went unanswered. Eventually, they made a police report.

While they sold as much as they could, some food nevertheless ended up discarded.

"It was a sizeable loss for a struggling cafe like ours, never mind a bruised ego. Why did Luke do it for no monetary gain? Will never know," the stall said.

Incident #2

Over at Upper Thomson Road, old-school bakery Yi Jia Bakery and Cafe was facing a similar situation.

Its 62-year-old owner, who gave her surname as Low, told The Straits Times (ST) that she received a call on Sep. 11.

This time, the individual identified himself as "Gordon" from Bedok army camp (again, remember this name).

Just like "Luke Wong", he said he wanted to place an urgent bulk order for pastries for 150 people.

In total, the order was worth S$1,500.

"Gordon" arranged to pick up the goods at 6pm the next day. When Low asked for payment, he said that he could only make payment the next day, as the army staff had already left for the day.

But the next day, Low was contacted by another man, claiming to be "Gordon's" colleague.

In a somewhat random turn, he enquired about Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs) — army rations typically consumed by SAF officers — and asked if Low could help contact the supplier.

She demurred.

But as the conversations continued — a third man joined in, at some point — Low warned that she would call the police if they still refused to make payment.

The second man, "Gordon's" colleague, eventually deleted most of his text messages to her.

No one showed up for the pastries, and Low ended up giving away the unclaimed goods to local charity Food from the Heart.

She called it "a lesson well-learnt".

Incident #3

A few days later, on Sep. 15, Breaditation Bakery at Little India posted an uncannily similar encounter on Instagram.

It had received "what seemed like a large and genuine order" of 120 to 150 fresh pastries from a man who claimed to be a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) personnel from Bedok army camp.

His name? "Gordon".

To prepare for the S$2,000 bulk order, Breaditation even closed shop for a day.

A spokesperson from the bakery, who gave her name as Jasmine Toh, told Mothership that she was also contacted by a second person who claimed to be "Gordon's" colleague.

This individual gave his name as — you guessed it — "Luke Wong".

As with Mdm Low at Yi Jia Bakery, "Wong" asked Toh if she knew where to get army rations.

But he never showed up to collect his pastries.

Fortunately, in this case, Breaditation posted an appeal on social media and managed to sell all its pastries at a discounted price.

"Nothing went to waste," the bakery wrote in its Instagram post, thanking customers for their "overwhelming" response.

Similarities and differences

At this point, you'd have noticed that the stories have two central characters, "Gordon" and "Luke Wong" from Bedok army camp.

To add to the realism, the "Gordon" who contacted Breaditation used a WhatsApp profile picture of a young man in an army uniform.

But the photo had, in fact, made a previous appearance in a different scam.

On Sep. 9, a mystery man placed a fake bulk order with a local florist.

That man used the very same photo as his profile picture. But he went by the moniker "David Lim".

He, too, claimed he was from Bedok army camp.

Meanwhile, "Luke Wong" used a profile picture of a different young man in army uniform.

But his nametag, upon closer inspection, showed a different name.

Two more somewhat strange details also kept popping up in every case.

One: the attempted orders for army rations, in every case rejected by confused staff.

Two: the size of the orders. In every case so far, the mysterious "SAF representative" has requested 150 portions.

Mindef's response

On Sep. 14, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) posted on social media, warning the public about fraudulent bulk orders made by individuals claiming to be from the SAF.

It is aware of seven such cases so far, and has reported them to the police, it said.

"The SAF takes a serious view of this," Mindef wrote.

"We urge the public, including businesses, to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the Police. They can also refer to the Police Advisory on Fake Bulk Order Scams for more information."

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Top image from Kiki Florist and Google Maps