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SINGAPORE \u2013 When her parents noticed that food delivery payment for their hawker business was still not in after two weeks, Ms Pooja decided to check their account information.<\/p>\n
She found that the bank account number for the payment for delivery orders on foodpanda had been changed. <\/p>\n
The transaction history showed that between Oct 10 and 14, about $3,000 was paid to an unknown bank account, said Ms Pooja, 36. <\/p>\n
She suspected that her parents had been the victims of a scam.<\/p>\n
Ms Pooja, who declined to give her full name, made a police report on Oct 24. She also contacted Grab, foodpanda and Deliveroo. <\/p>\n
Her parents, who run a stall selling Indian food, have been working with food delivery platforms for seven years, and this is the first time they have fallen prey to a scam.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were upset because it is a decent amount of money that we lost,\u201d she said. \u201cAt the same time, my parents have gone through a lot of challenges, so they were not really fazed by it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her parents had to stop food delivery orders on foodpanda for a week after that to rectify security issues. They could have made $2,500 during this period, said Ms Pooja, who helps out full time at her parents\u2019 hawker stall in Tampines.<\/p>\n
Her family is among food and beverage businesses that have recently fallen prey to scams.<\/p>\n
Ms Pooja was speaking to The Straits Times and other media outlets in an online interview on Dec 4 arranged by the police. <\/p>\n
In some cases, the victims \u2013 the F&B businesses \u2013 would receive unsolicited calls from scammers claiming to represent food delivery platforms.<\/p>\n
They would then phish for information and use it to access the victims\u2019 food delivery platform accounts or e-mail accounts to maliciously update bank account details, add spoofed e-mail accounts and change account notification settings.<\/p>\n
The victims\u2019 earnings would then be diverted to the scammers\u2019 bank accounts or payment service provider accounts.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Nov 18, the police said there have been at least four such cases reported since August, with total losses of at least $42,000.<\/p>\n
In Ms Pooja\u2019s parents\u2019 case, the scammers did not contact them at all. <\/p>\n
She added that when she checked her parents\u2019 e-mail account settings, she found that scammers had gained access to the e-mail account some time in July. <\/p>\n
It is possible the scammers then managed to gain access to her parents\u2019 food delivery platform accounts because the same password is used for many platforms, she added.<\/p>\n
Scammers had tried to change the payment information of her parents\u2019 Grab account in September, Ms Pooja said. <\/p>\n
She added that someone from Grab then called her parents, who are in their 60s, to check if they were the ones who had made the change.<\/p>\n
After clarifying that the change had not been authorised by her parents, Ms Pooja updated the password to their Grab account.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cAt the time, my father did not think that it would affect our other accounts, so he did not really pay much attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was only in late October that Ms Pooja discovered someone had changed the banking details for her parents\u2019 foodpanda and Deliveroo accounts. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought it was an issue with foodpanda. We contacted their finance team and they said that foodpanda had paid us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She added that her parents\u2019 Deliveroo account was affected too, causing them to lose about $50.<\/p>\n
Her parents have managed to recoup $1,300 from foodpanda so far, said Ms Pooja.<\/p>\n
The police said investigations into Ms Pooja\u2019s case are ongoing. <\/p>\n
In response to queries from ST, foodpanda said it is aware of the recent scam variant targeting F&B businesses and that it has implemented measures to protect its vendor partners.<\/p>\n
It added that it has been reaching out to vendors to raise awareness and is ready to help if there are suspected scam cases.<\/p>\n
The food delivery platform also encouraged vendors to remain vigilant and to contact its support team if they notice suspicious requests, or unusual activity on their accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny changes to sensitive information will require verification, and vendors will be notified through multiple channels \u2013 such as the vendor portal and e-mail \u2013 whenever their details are updated,\u201d said foodpanda.<\/p>\n
Also responding to queries from ST, Grab said: \u201cWe contact the business\u2019 authorised director directly whenever a request is made to change bank account details.\u201d<\/p>\n
It added that it is providing its merchant-partners with knowledge to combat fraudsters and will be introducing more security measures on its platform.<\/p>\n
Ms Pooja said her parents will now be more vigilant in guarding their e-mail and food delivery platform accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remind them to change their passwords periodically and to have two-factor authentication on their phones so that they get alerts more often,\u201d said Ms Pooja.<\/p>\n
When asked if her parents will continue using the platforms, Ms Pooja said: \u201cAre they scared? No. We resolved all the security issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, they change some of their policies so that these things can be identified more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Straits Times has contacted Deliveroo for more information.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n