When ordering from Korean eatery Mi Bibimbap off foodpanda, a user was charged a S$1.50 Beverage Container Return Scheme (BCRS) deposit for an order which did not include drinks.

The eatery has since clarified in response to a Google Maps review that the fee was not imposed by them.

Instead, it arose due to "an error in the platform's product data processing."

Mi Bibimbap also left a representative's contact number and said that it will verify and arrange refunds for affected customers who reach out.

Charged S$1.50 for BCRS deposit but did not order drinks

The foodpanda user, Ben (not his real name), shared a screenshot of his receipt with Mothership.

The order was placed with Mi Bibimbap's Pasir Ris Mall outlet at 2:49pm on Jun. 5, 2026.

Part of the line item in the receipt for the order was a S$1.50 fee for a BCRS deposit.

The BCRS deposit fee is 10 cents per beverage container.

Ben's order did not include beverages.

Ben shared that he noticed the fee prior to ordering, but decided to go ahead with the order and seek a refund later as he had missed lunch due to a work event and was hungry at the time.

On Google Maps, a review posted on Jun. 6 about Mi Bibimbap's Nex outlet briefly detailed a similar experience.

In a screenshot shared along with the review, a S$0.50 BCRS deposit appeared to be included in the user's order.

The order looked to be made on foodpanda.

Miscategorisation by platform

Mi Bibimbap responded to the Google Maps review on Jun. 8.

It said that it has received feedback from customers regarding BCRS-related charged on certain foodpanda orders.

"After investigation, we found that the issue was caused by an error in the platform’s product data processing, which resulted in certain items being incorrectly categorised and charged accordingly," the eatery explained.

It added that the charge was not set or imposed by Mi Bibimbap.

In the Google Maps reply, Mi Bibimbap left its store representative's contact number and informed the reviewer to reach out to process a refund.

Ben said he has also reached out to the eatery to request a refund.

The eatery refunded Ben S$5 as a gesture of goodwill and apology.

When Mothership checked on foodpanda on Jun. 8 evening, the BCRS deposit fee no longer appears as part of the charges on an order without beverages during checkout.

Error in merchant configuration of BCRS deposit: foodpanda

Responding to Mothership's queries, a foodpanda spokesperson said it was aware of the reports regarding the incorrect BCRS deposit charges on the platform and had investigated the matter.

"To facilitate the deposit charges on the foodpanda platform, a BCRS deposit field was set up to support merchants in collecting the required BCRS deposits, in accordance with the scheme," the spokesperson said, adding that deposits collected are not subject to GST or any fees to its merchant partners

"Based on our investigation, the S$0.50 charge was incorrectly applied due to an error in how the merchant configured the BCRS deposit within their integrated POS system," the spokesperson explained.

The spokesperson also said foodpanda is working closely with the merchant partner to ensure the necessary corrections are made and to prevent additional charges on items that should not carry a BCRS deposit charge.

"As the BCRS is a newly implemented scheme, we are supporting our merchant partners and customers during this transition period to ensure a smooth experience," the spokesperson assured.

Foodpanda also regularly reviews listings across the platform and works with its partners to ensure BCRS deposits are accurately reflected and collected in accordance with the scheme's requirements.

"Customers who believe they have been incorrectly charged with a BCRS deposit on a non-BCRS item are encouraged to contact our customer support team so that the matter can be reviewed to facilitate the appropriate refunds," the spokesperson advised.

A seven-year-old girl was suffocated to death in a fight with her 13-year-old stepsister over the use of a mobile phone in Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

The incident took place on the afternoon of May 30 at their house in the Sangkhla Buri district, Bangkok Post and Thai PBS reported.

Quarreled

According to local police, the deceased, identified as Nong Agnoon, and the 13-year-old, identified as Kanda, had the same biological mother but different fathers.

Their mother claimed that the girls quarrelled frequently and often fought over the use of the mobile phone.

Confessed

Kanda and her 17-year-old uncle, identified as Pae, reportedly confessed to their involvement in Nong’s death.

The pair told investigators that they were at home with Nong and were apparently playing together.

The police said the uncle was at the scene, but did not take part in the murder.

Kanda allegedly placed a fertiliser sack over her head and pretended to strangle her.

However, Nong became unresponsive when the sack was removed, and they eventually found that she had already died.

The pair panicked and placed the lifeless Nong in a wardrobe.

At about 3pm, Pae took Nong’s body to a rubber plantation about 600 metres from the house and left her there.

Nong was reported missing on the same day.

Found

A latex collector subsequently discovered Nong’s body on Jun. 1 in a bamboo grove in the rubber plantation.

A sack used to carry her body was burnt nearby.

According to local police, there were bruises on the girl's neck, indicating strangulation.

Signs of physical assault on the body were present, including two wounds to her chin.

Her face appeared to have been hit with a hard object.

The Post reported that there were initial signs of sexual assault.

Three monks and a driver at a temple 700 metres from where Nong was found were questioned as part of the investigation.

The girls’ mother was also left in shock by the investigators’ revelations, and mental healthcare staff would counsel her.

The police told Matichon that they would question the two suspects further, as they do not believe they acted alone, and suspect someone might have assisted them in moving the body.

A man in Singapore realised his AirPods Pro case had gone missing and decided to track its live location from Jurong to Toa Payoh.

He successfully found the case after a three-hour journey.

He detailed his journey in a series of TikTok videos on Jun. 7, one of which has since hit over 339,000 views.

Lost AirPods Pro case

Speaking to Mothership, Ethan, 22, recounted that he lost the case on Jun. 5, either at Beauty World or at Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

The National Serviceman had bought it with his NS allowance and had been using it for only a month.

A replacement would set him back S$139, he said, so he decided to try recovering it instead.

From Jurong to Toa Payoh

When he used Apple's Find My location-tracking app on Jun. 6 to look for the case, he was shocked to see that it was first located at Jurong Point.

The location history showed that the case had travelled from Jurong Point towards Toa Payoh.

He then used Google's Gemini AI assistant to help deduce that the route matched that of bus service 157, he said.

He managed to track it down to Toa Payoh Bus Interchange, where he spent more than 30 minutes searching the area.

Took bus back to Jurong

However, Ethan saw that the case's location was moving again.

Suspecting that the person carrying it was heading back towards Jurong on 157, he decided to take the MRT to "intercept the bus" as it would go past King Albert Park.

However, he couldn't reach in time and took a TADA ride to get one step ahead of the bus, according to the location given by the Find My app.

He managed to board the bus and then used the sound alert on the Find My app to locate the device.

It was eventually found near a passenger, but Ethan said that he wasn't fully sure if the passenger had taken it.

"I suspected he tossed it aside after hearing the pinging as I rang the AirPods multiple times," he said.

Rather than confronting the individual or filing a police report, Ethan said he ultimately decided to drop the matter as he managed to get his case back in the end.

A Chinese student was cheated out of HK$8.21 million (S$1.35 million) after a scammer accused him of being connected to a fraud case.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Hong Kong police said on Jun. 7 that there were 42 cases of Chinese students studying in Hong Kong who had been cheated by scammers impersonating law enforcement officials from China in the first quarter of 2026.

Hong Kong police said Chinese students accounted for a quarter of the 164 reports involving scammers impersonating Chinese authorities, with total losses amounting to HK$289 million (S$47.6 million).

Largest case involved S$1.35 million

The largest case involving a student saw a 22-year-old male handing HK$8.21 million (S$1.35 million) over to a scammer posing as a Chinese police officer.

According to SCMP, the scammer accused the student of being associated with a fraud case and demanded that he hand over funds as proof of his innocence.

The student deposited the funds into six bank accounts before the scammer cut contact with him.

Another student staged own kidnapping based on syndicate's instructions

In another case, a female university student known by her surname, Wang, was rescued by Thai authorities after scammers impersonating Chinese police officers persuaded her to fly to Thailand.

According to SCMP, this was despite her having attended anti-scam courses at her university.

According to a Facebook post by Royal Thai Police, the scammers convinced the 21-year-old student to stage her own kidnapping to extort "ransom" money from her family in a virtual kidnapping scam.

The scammers approached the victim while she was studying in Hong Kong and accused her of being involved in money laundering.

Wang told the media that the scammers wore police uniforms when they video-called her and demanded she sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The scammers placed her under real-time surveillance.

Lied to parents

Following the scammer's directions, the victim lied to her family and asked for a remittance of HK$1.4 million (S$230,370), claiming that the funds were for her postgraduate studies.

Upon receiving the funds, the scammers told the student to travel to Thailand and provided her with flight tickets and accommodation.

The victim said she felt threatened and decided to go to Thailand.

She explained that if she did not go to Thailand, her parents would have gone to Hong Kong to look for her, and as a result, she may accidentally leak "confidential" information, breaking the "non-disclosure agreement".

She added: "Not only would I have faced criminal penalties, but my parents would also be implicated."

Filmed ransom video

On May 31, after arriving in Bangkok, fraudsters instructed the student to film a ransom video and to send photos of staged "injuries" to her family.

According to SCMP, Thai authorities shared a video showing the victim dressed in a ripped blue shirt with bruises on her knees, crying that she had been abducted by six strangers.

In the video posted to Facebook by Thai police, the victim asked her parents to send the scammers HK$3 million (S$493,550) and claimed that her "kidnappers" were hitting her.

Thai police said surveillance footage showed the victim checking into a Bangkok hotel alone, using a passport photo provided by the scammers.

The victim also took a taxi to buy ropes, a knife, body paint and red lipstick to create the illusion of assault and kidnapping.

She sent videos to the scam syndicate, which was used to pressure her family to pay a ransom.

Syndicate isolated victim

According to Thai police, the syndicate manipulated Wang and told her to cut off contact with her family, isolating her.

Hong Kong police said the victim only realised that she was being scammed when her father travelled to Thailand to look for her, reported SCMP.

The police said the victim was not abducted and had merely followed the scammers' directions at the hotel.

The victim's father made a police report upon losing contact with her and receiving the video.

She was rescued by Thai authorities and returned to Hong Kong on Jun. 2.

According to SCMP, Chinese students are required to complete an anti-scam questionnaire before arriving in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong police commissioner also sends a letter at the start of the academic year, urging students and parents to be aware of common scam tactics.

The couple that died after their motorcycle collided with a truck on the Tuas Second Link Bridge on Jun. 5 have been working in Singapore for two decades.

The accident occurred at around 9:30pm, approximately 600m away from the Tuas Checkpoint exit bridge, near the Malaysian border.

Tham Khin Peng, 55, and Lim Ah Bit, 54, worked as a food delivery driver and a restaurant server, respectively, 8world reported.

The pair would commute daily between Singapore and Malaysia for work.

They leave behind three children aged 12, 18 and 21.

These details were given to 8world by a Malaysian towing service, Sin Mah Bike Towing, who shared that the family was not well off.

Personnel from Sin Mah Bike Towing were originally dispatched to the site of the accident, and the company subsequently posted a missing person notice on their Facebook page in hopes of contacting Tham and Lim's next-of-kin.

Their funeral service was held on Jun. 7, and the couple was cremated on Jun. 8.

Two children fell from a high-rise apartment building in Johor Bahru on Jun. 7, resulting in the death of an 8-year-old girl.

She died from her injuries while being rushed to the hospital, The New Straits Times reported.

The other child, a 10-year-old boy, was critically injured and admitted to a hospital's intensive care unit.

The local police chief confirmed the incident and said an official statement will be released soon.

Witness accounts

The building where the incident happened was 24 storeys tall, according to Sinchew.

Around 8am that day, the two children fell from the 12th floor and landed on the seventh floor, Sinchew cited a resident saying.

Sinchew also reported that they were brother and sister.

They landed near the swimming pool area, and a resident who was there at the time heard a loud impact, The New Straits Times reported.

Moments after the girl was found lying motionless, another loud sound was reportedly heard, and the boy was found injured at the scene.

The sight caused bystanders to scream and call emergency services for help, the resident said.

Sinchew cited another witness on social media claiming to have seen the children's mother arrive at the scene with her hair wet, possibly having just taken a bath.

A 71-year-old man was arrested for public drunkenness near Hougang MRT station in the evening of Jun. 5 following a standoff with police that reportedly lasted over an hour.

The incident occurred at an HDB estate near Exit B of the MRT station.

Visibly intoxicated

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, one witness said he noticed the elderly man, who was visibly intoxicated, had fallen to the ground and scraped his elbow, prompting him to call an ambulance.

The witness added that the man remained on the ground after the fall — he had attempted to get up but was visibly unsteady on his feet, and his pants appeared to be wet.

When paramedics arrived and assessed his condition, the man refused to cooperate and continued to lay down on the ground, prompting the police to be called in.

The standoff was said to have lasted about an hour.

Another witness, who was passing by the station at the time, said she saw several police officers escorting the elderly man to the side of the road.

"He was very agitated when he was taken away, constantly cursing," she said.

A video circulating online showed the man, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, being escorted by four officers with his hands cuffed behind his back.

He briefly lost his footing during the process, but was quickly steadied by an officer nearby.

Investigations ongoing

In response to Mothership's queries, the police confirmed receiving a call for assistance at 90 Hougang Avenue 10 at around 4:25pm on Jun. 5.

A 71-year-old man was arrested for drunkenness in public and was conveyed conscious to the hospital.

Police investigations are ongoing.

A 25-year-old Sembawang resident claimed that a man loitering outside her home stole a pair of her limited edition sneakers from the shoe rack.

The resident, Yan (transliterated), claimed the shoes, an Adidas Stan Smith with a pink heel tab, were worth more than S$300, Shin Min Daily News reported.

Loitering

According to Yan, the incident apparently took place at Block 589A Montreal Drive in Sembawang, where she lived.

When she returned home at about 3pm on Jun. 4, a neighbour informed her that an unidentified man had been behaving suspiciously along the corridor.

The neighbour’s domestic helper apparently saw a man dressed in a beige shirt and shorts attempting to take a pair of shoes from the shoe rack outside Yan’s unit.

The domestic helper shouted at the man, prompting him to put the shoes down and flee the scene.

Stolen

Yan initially believed that nothing was stolen.

It was only later that she realised that the pair of Adidas sneakers she owned was missing.

“I really liked them and had only worn them a few times,” Yan said.

She believed that the man stole the sneakers and later returned in an attempt to take a second pair of shoes, only to be caught by the domestic helper.

Yan highlighted that there were other footwear in the shoe rack and suggested that the man might have targeted specific branded shoes.

Discontinued

Yan claimed that the specific Adidas Stan Smith pair of shoes had its production discontinued.

Checks by Mothership showed that the Stan Smith line of shoes is still on sale on the Adidas website.

But the exact colourway of Yan’s shoes appeared to have been discontinued.

Yan reported the incident to the police.

Not the first time

Yan said she was previously a victim of shoe theft about two years ago.

She reported the theft back then as well.

The police apparently told her that other residents in the same block had also lodged reports about missing shoes.

It was believed that someone was playing a prank, but there was not enough evidence to back it.

In the wake of the latest incident, Yan said she has started keeping her expensive footwear inside her home.

She is also considering installing a security camera outside her home to deter future thefts.

Due to system issues and overwhelming crowds, thousands of attendees found themselves queueing for hours to enter the Mercury Festival from Jun. 5 to 7.

The bi-annual art and thrift fair for small businesses, held at the Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre with free entry, saw large crowds outside the convention hall waiting to get in.

At 4:22pm on Jun. 6, the organisers wrote on the festival's Telegram channel that there were around 9,300 people in the queue, with a waiting time of over four hours.

Shortly after, they updated that they had to close the virtual queue temporarily "due to the high volume of people in the online queue as well as in the venue".

"Five hours and still waiting," a person commented at 4:15pm on Jun. 7, under the festival's update that the online queue will again be stopped temporarily.

Another wrote on 5:41pm that she arrived at the venue at 11:30am and was still waiting for her number.

The festival was open from 12:30pm to 8:30pm each day.

Unforeseen circumstances

Festival organisers told Mothership that the three-day event saw over 32,000 visitors, with about 15,000 on Saturday alone.

"We are regretfully aware that it’s a significant number and we deeply apologise for this oversight," they said in response to Mothership's queries.

Online queues were closed early on all three days, with the organisers explaining on Telegram that they "truly could not foresee the crazy crowd so early on".

Those currently in the queue would not be affected, but no new registrations would be accepted.

On Jun. 7, a system malfunction occurred due to the overwhelming number of patrons registering for a queue number. It caused a lag in the queue system that the organisers said was resolved in a timely manner.

The queueing process

Mothership readers shared that the only official way to get a entry queue number was to get to the hall in person and scan a QR code on the sign outside, which would give them a queue number.

The online queue would open around 12pm each day shortly before the festival opened its doors, according to a reader.

She had visited on Jun. 6 and was able to enter the festival after getting a queue number around 12pm, which was called at around 1:30pm.

According to her, there was no time limit set for how long she could stay inside the hall when she got in.

A security guard outside the hall was saying that those who had just got a number could come back in three to four hours, she recalled, adding that the crowd outside the venue was huge also due to people queueing for an anime market right next door.

Another Mothership reader who went to the festival on Jun. 7 got a queue number at 12:53pm, but it was only called after six hours at 7pm.

When she first registered for a number, there were over 7,700 people in the queue in front of her.

She waited around for an hour and a half before deciding to leave, because there were still over 6,400 before her by that time.

TikTok user @zilliediaries described the queue situation as a "war zone". Posting on Jun. 7, she said she was unable to enter the festival as there were 8,000 people in the queue.

@zilliediariesat least the queues for public garden moved quickly… mercury fest this year goes crazy♬ original sound - zane and willie

Vendors' experiences

A vendor who boothed for all three days at Mercury Festival took to Threads to share her experience.

"It's sad that many of my regulars, friends and new customers were not able to enter due to their queue management system," she said.

Despite the crowds, her sales were "almost the same" as it was at the previous year's festival.

She claimed that other vendors said their sales were "not very good" either, possibly "because most of the crowd were browsing and not necessarily there to shop as it overlapped with the other festivals on the same floor".

Some vendors, however, shared more positive experiences.

In an Instagram story that was reshared by the festival, one vendor thanked customers for the unexpected turnout and support. She also apologised and expressed appreciation to people who were unable to get into the festival because of the queues.

Making improvements

On the last day of the festival, the organisers apologised for the long waits and responded to attendees' feedback by making some improvements to the queue system.

Through the Telegram channel, they informed everyone in the morning that the start of the queue system would be brought earlier to 11am, and informed everyone that the last ticket number accepted would be 4,700.

They also asked attendees not to circulate the QR code around to others to "ensure the actual queue count remains accurate".

TikTok user @groceryham, who initially included a link to the online queue website in a video, later removed it based on the organisers' request.

They explained that "some people are joining online with no intention to go", she said in a comment.

Many attendees who faced long waits expressed their frustration in comments on the Mercury Festival Instagram page, suggesting that the organisers make improvements to the queue system for future editions of the festival.

The organisers' response

In response to Mothership's queries, the organisers shared that higher queue number holders had to wait for up to five hours, though waiting times varied across the three days.

"We acknowledge that the waiting experience is not acceptable and inconsiderate to our patrons who came with the intention of supporting our vendors and we’d like to truly apologise for that," they said.

Instead of enforcing a time limit, the team managed the crowd entry flow according to the volume inside the hall.

There was regular communication from both vendors and staff on crowd control, to decide when to admit more visitors and when to stop.

Looking ahead, the team has been developing a strategy to manage the queues at the next event.

Solutions in discussion include potentially renting the concourse below to provide a spacious area for a physical queue, or implementing time slots.

The team will be seeking feedback on these ideas, and will also take other suggestions into consideration.

"We would like to thank everyone that took the time to come down for Mercury Festival and were so patient. The turnout exceeded what the venue and queue flow could comfortably handle. We are so grateful that we have patrons that are determined to support the local community and we will work hard to honour that."

A 32-year-old Singaporean man has been sentenced to five years and 11 months' jail for grooming and sexually exploiting an underage girl in the U.S. through video calls.

According to The Straits Times (ST), Sebastian Lye Chee Weng, 32, was also sentenced to three strokes of the cane.

It was further revealed that Lye was being investigated for sexually exploiting another minor during the same period.

The case

Court documents seen by Mothership revealed that Lye first met the girl on the online platform "Omegle" in October 2018 and befriended her.

Omegle is an online platform that connects strangers for text, video, and voice conversations.

The girl was 12 years old at the time.

Lye, then 24, had lied about his age, claiming he was 17 years old to gain her trust.

The two entered a relationship and communicated regularly on platforms including Instagram and Skype.

Court documents reveal that Lye sexually exploited the girl on at least 61 occasions between November 2018 and December 2019, requesting that she perform sexual acts during video calls, which he recorded and screenshotted.

Around the same period, Lye was separately investigated for sexually exploiting another minor, and officers raided his home in November 2018 in connection with that case.

He was eventually convicted in September 2020 and sentenced to over eight months' jail.

Re-offended while on remission

Following his release, Lye was placed on a remission order and was required to stay out of trouble from Mar. 20 to Jun. 13, 2021.

However, he did not comply.

In April 2021, about a month after his release, Lye conducted a video call with the American girl, who was then 14, and again asked her to perform a sexual act.

She complied, and he took at least two screenshots.

The following month, Lye threatened via text message to distribute intimate recordings of her to people she knew, after the girl had attempted to end their relationship.

The victim replied to his message, asking for Lye to leave her alone.

He passed several sexually explicit photographs of her to another individual on Instagram the following day.

The girl subsequently told her parents, and her father reported the matter to U.S. authorities, who then alerted the Singapore Police Force.

Over 12,000 files of sexually explicit material involving children found

When police raided Lye's home in April 2022, they found 12,755 files of sexually explicit material involving children.

In court, Lye pleaded guilty to multiple offences, including the sexual exploitation of a child.

In addition to his jail term and caning, he will serve an additional 66 days' imprisonment for breaching the remission order.

His lawyer also told the court that Lye has "depressive symptoms" and that there is a contributory link between his condition and the offences committed, ST reported.

Lye's bail has been set at S$20,000 and he is expected to begin serving his sentence on Jun. 19.