The fake bulk order from an "army camp" struck again — this time a nasi lemak shop and a bakery were the victims.

Reports said that there have been at least five such cases in the past week. 

Nasi lemak shop Sedap! in Novena received an order for 150 pax of nasi lemak and bottlesof mineral water on Sept 8, due the following day, but it was neither paid for nor the food collected, according to the shop's an Instagram post last Thursday (Sept 11).

In its post titled "A lesson to learn", the shop said it received a phone call from "Luke" who placed the order for the army camp on an "urgent basis".

"Luke" said advance payment was not possible as the shop was a "first time supplier" and that documentation was needed for approval.

This sounded reasonable at the time for the shop, the Sedap! spokesperson wrote, and it agreed to accept the order and deliver food at 1pm on Sept 9, when it would receive payment.

"On the day of delivery, there was insufficient time to get his 'office approval', but we decided to still proceed with the delivery," the spokesperson said.

The shop's entire team was mobilised, excited to take on the "big deal" to supply the army and receive a bonus for their hard work.

At 1pm, however, those hopes were dashed — "Luke" didn't reply to calls, and the police was contacted.

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

Thankfully for Sedap!, a friend from Fitness First Gym at Velocity — also in Novena — was able to take 20 boxes of nasi lemak off their hands, while it managed to sell a few boxes in the afternoon.

"We were happy to sell it at a discount or give it away rather than wasting them," the shop added.

"We wanted to give the food to charity but did not know where to turn to."

The rest of the food was discarded, the Sedap! spokesperson said.

Going forward, the shop is considering enforcing advance payment as a necessity for orders, although it admitted that this seemed "overly harsh".

"Business has to involve taking some risks; even starting a business itself in the first place is taking a risk," the spokesperson said. "It's a lesson to learn."

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A post shared by SEDAP! (@sedapnasilemak19)

Another victim?

Sedap! wasn't the only shop to fall prey to this latest type of scam — a bakery along Thomson Road told The Straits Times on Monday (Sept 15) that it had a similar encounter.

Yi Jia Bakery owner Low said she received a call from a man named "Gordon" on Sept 11,who said he needed pastries for 150 people for Bedok camp, due on 6pm the next day.

When asked for payment, the man claimed that he wasn't able to provide the $1,500 for pastries as army staff had already left for the day, offering to make the transfer the next morning.

He then claimed his phone was "broken" and contacted the bakery from a different phone number.

On Sept 12, another man claiming to be Gordon's colleague called to check on the order, and Low discussed with the "colleague" on the payment.

Low later warned that she would contact the police if she did not receive payment, and by 4pm that day most of the messages in their conversations had been deleted, The Straits Times reported.

Most of her food was later given away to food bank Food from the Heart, she said.

AsiaOne has reached out to Sedap! and Yi Jia Bakery formore information.

No evidence of affiliation with SAF: Mindef

In a Facebook post on Sunday (Sept 14), the Ministry of Defence shared that the SAF has observed a number of allegedly fraudulent bulk orders made by individuals claiming to be SAF personnel. 

"The SAF takes a serious view of this," the post reads. "For the seven cases that we are aware of, we have not found any evidence that these individuals are affiliated with the SAF, and have made reports to the police on them. 

"We urge the public, including businesses, to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police."

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khooyihang@asiaone.com