Last evening, a Facebook user shared a post that claimed a man was going around HDB blocks pretending to be a delivery food rider in an attempt to con his way into unsuspecting households. The picture depicted a masked man in a motorcycle helmet wearing a Foodpanda shirt, with the accompanying caption warning folks that “these guys” have been targeting people’s houses — but nothing else was mentioned regarding the mechanisms of the alleged ruse.
The post elicited angry comments by netizens who accused the poster of trying to ruin the rider’s rice bowl — the dude might have just delivered food to the wrong unit. But then Foodpanda Singapore managing director Luc Andreani stated to TODAY that the person pictured in the post was indeed “falsely posing as a delivery rider”. Plot twist!
“I can confirm that this person is not a rider on (his) shift, but is falsely posing as a delivery rider,” said Andreani, who added that Foodpanda is currently investigating the case and will work together with the police to find the alleged imposter.
“Riders are taught not to cover their face and always behave amiably with our customers,” he informed TODAY.
Stating that this was the first time Foodpanda encountered such a case, Andreani stressed to the public to call the police immediately if they received a visit from a delivery rider despite not making any orders.
Disbelief
Prior to Andreani’s confirmation of the imposter, netizens called bullshit on the viral post, while accusing the original poster of trying to spread fake news.
Confusion
In yet another plot twist, a screen grab from an alleged WhatsApp chat group for Foodpanda delivery riders showed one man admitting to be the person in subject. According to his message, he went to the wrong unit of an HDB block in Ang Mo Kio — the address in his app was apparently displayed wrongly.
As for the mask he was wearing… perhaps he just didn’t follow protocol.
Clarification
After completing their investigations, a Foodpanda spokesperson informed The Straits Times that the rider in subject does, in fact, work for them, and is not an imposter like what Andreani said.
“The rider was responding to an incorrect delivery address entered into an order by a Foodpanda customer,” said the spokesperson, apologizing to the recipient of the incorrect delivery.
In our opinion, it really should be the other way round. The original poster who implied that the masked delivery rider is going around trying to scam households should be the one making the apology for causing the false alarm. The poor Foodpanda rider was just simply doing his job and it was an error made by a customer in the first place — he definitely didn’t deserve to be the subject of a viral hoax.
Edit: Article updated to reflect Foodpanda’s statement about their findings
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