A student is currently warning the general public of a potential scam after he had gone on a date with a foreign girl he met on a dating application and was left with a RM1,610.80 bill.
In a now deleted post, the student, HeartZealousideal199, took to Reddit to share how the girl, who ended up being a completely different person from the dating app account’s profile picture, had lured him to a bistro in Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya, where she had ordered a bottle of wine and stuck him with the bill.
He wrote, “So, I matched with this girl, Yiyi from China, on TanTan. After chatting for a bit, she asked me to continue on WeChat, and I went along with it. She then sent me a location, to meet her at a restaurant called (redacted) in Damansara Perdana. And, she wasn’t even the same person as in the profile.”
“When I got there, she ordered a pizza and gave me the food menu while she looked at the drinks. When I tried to order a drink, the waiter straight up ignored me and went to the cashier instead. Weird, but okay. Then, she casually mentioned that she ordered wine and that we had to pay first. A few minutes later, the cashier showed up with the bill – RM1,610.08.”
This image is for illustration purposes only.
Seeing the amount, he clarified that he is a student and cannot afford to pay the bill. However, the girl then provided him with a different payment method.
“She said she couldn’t use Malaysian payment methods and told me to transfer the money to a Boost account under some random name.”
He ended up paying the amount.
She ordered a second bottle of wine
What shocked the student even more was that ANOTHER bottle of wine appeared. Thankfully, he managed to see through what was happening and skipped out of there.
“She finished the wine, and guess what? The cashier came back with another bottle, saying that she had ordered more. At that point, I told her I wasn’t comfortable and left,”
“Moral of the story: If a date insists on choosing the place and things start feeling sketchy, trust your gut and get out.”
The student has since lodged a police report in regards to this incident and filed a report with his bank.
This isn’t the first time it happened
Many believe that the bistro is in on the scam, as others have fallen for the same trick at the same place. They even pointed out that there are Google Reviews under the bistro’s Google page that have highlighted this alleged scam.
What netizens have been saying online:
The owner of the PJ Bistro responds to the accusations
WORLD OF BUZZ has since reached out to the owner of the PJ Bistro, who stressed that his business is in no way involved in this scam.
Speaking to WORLD OF BUZZ, he shared that he was approached by a Chinese group looking to rent a few tables at the bistro to promote wine. The scam was then conducted by the group that was renting the space there.
Upon discovering that the group was conducting the scam, which was subsequently affecting his business, he immediately told the group to leave.
The owner also highlighted the fact that his business does not sell wine, and that they only serve food, non-alcoholic drinks and beer.
“My business caters to the Indian customers around Damansara Perdana. I have been confronted by Chinese customers who come from far away places, such as Ampang, just to see a girl they met online who ends up scamming them. Yet, my business is taking the blame,”
“My business’s name isn’t even on the RM1,610 bills. Those are not my business’s bills. Should these customers have asked to see the owner when approached with these bills, I would have come to clarify things and kick the scammers out. But they never asked to see the owner or manager, and I only found out about this when I saw the Reddit post and Google Reviews,” he said.
Hence why the pizza, allegedly ordered by the girl mentioned in the Reddit post, was not stated on the wine bill, as the wine bill did not come from his bistro.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the scammed customers did not spend a single dime at his bistro.
The owner has lodged a police report in regards to this scam.
The bistro’s Google page has also since been taken down by an unknown party, and the owner is working on getting it back up.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.
Also read: Elderly M’sian Loses RM15k Worth of Valuables to Scammers Who Told Her a Female Ghost Wanted Her Son
