Fake food delivery orders are an incredibly cruel prank, especially when played on app-based motorcycle taxi drivers (locally known as ojek online or ojol for short) who would often have to front the money for their customers’ purchases.
Recently, 13 ojol drivers reportedly became victims of what appears to be a fake food delivery order prank in the Ciruas sub-district of Serang, Banten. Based on photo and video footage that have gone viral online, the drivers said they received orders from a woman named Sinta, only to find that the address given to them led to an empty house.
One woman named Ida, who lives near the empty house, took photos and videos of the disheartened ojol drivers as they came and went carrying bags of food on Saturday.
https://www.facebook.com/ida.royani.7146557/posts/2493088944262114
“What heartless person can do such a thing to these GoFood drivers … The drivers came from far away, and it was raining. The orders didn’t come cheap, one of them delivered food worth IDR135,000 (US$9.6). What made me sad is the driver said that they got tricked in the morning, and they looked sad. It’s beyond me that someone could be this heartless,” Ida wrote in the caption.
Ida then posted updates from throughout the day showing more drivers arriving at the empty house. In all, she counted 13 drivers, one of whom was delivering food worth IDR800,000 and another who said he delivered food at 1am and waited at the house until 3am. Some of the orders were also made using names other than Sinta.
Local police say they’re aware of the incident but have not received any formal complaints from the drivers.
“So far we haven’t received any report, but [the drivers] can report directly to [the authorities]. If they feel aggrieved they should report, if they don’t then there will be no victims. There should be victims in a fraud case,” Ciruas Police Chief Sukirno told Detik yesterday.
While ojol drivers have brought convenience to the lives of many Indonesians through the wide array of services they offer, it’s easy to overlook the amount of hard work they have to put in to their jobs — for relatively low pay.
Earlier this month, a viral video has shone a light on the harsh and competitive nature of making a living as an ojol driver. In it, a driver believed to be from North Jakarta was filmed bawling for several minutes when it appeared that his customer had just canceled on him, after he was asked to front IDR200K to buy several items.
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