A hawker stall reportedly had a recent run-in with a conman who pretended to be a Shin Min Daily News food reporter who apparently cheated the vendors out of $500. The aftermath of the incident — which occurred on June 19 at the Pek Kio Seafood Delights stall at Pek Kio Market and Food Centre — saw both the hawker and the Chinese evening daily filing police reports.
Mrs Chen, the 55-year-old hawker, explained the situation to Shin Min, saying that a man with curly hair and a black tee approached her claiming he was a Shin Min food reporter with advertising packages to sell.
“He said he was well-known and often appeared in food shows,” said Chen to The Straits Times. “I was a bit wary and asked for identification but he changed the subject and asked me — didn’t I watch the TV shows?”
According to Chen, the scammer insisted he had conducted interviews with six of the 170 seafood white beehoon stalls in the country, and said her stall was selected for a free interview. Chen agreed to the interview, and the man told her to prep three dishes for his return the next day with two more reporters.
The following day, he came back, but he was alone with a luggage bag and a backpack. The man then began to promote 10 culinary certs. FYI, reporters usually do not take any form of payment for editorial coverage or reviews (unless they’re explicitly stated as sponsored posts).
“He sold us $2,900 packages and said the certificate would be valid for three years and be in newspapers, magazines and online,” Chen said. “I felt it was expensive and regretted, but he said he would let me pay in instalments, but an instalment of $500 would mean the cert was valid for only three months.”
Eventually, she gave him $500 and the man left after taking pics of one dish. Unfortunately, he became uncontactable after that incident. Chen and Shin Min have since lodged police reports, and investigations are ongoing.
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