Netizens Bash Troll Account That Promotes Scamming Small Businesses & Hawkers Using Fake E-Payments

By Ameera Rosli  •  in News
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In Malaysia's street food heaven, hawkers see daily earnings barely reaching RM50 under second CMCO | Malaysia | Malay Mail
source: Malay Mail (for illustration purposes only)

During the pandemic, hawker stalls and small businesses have been struggling due to the MCO and the strict SOPs that sometimes discourage customers from dining-in in large crowds.

Due to this, whatever income they manage to garner during their operating days are just enough for them to scrape by.

So when a troll account on Twitter decided to upload a step-by-step on how to scam these businesses by using fake screenshots of e-payments, netizens were not having it.

Uploaded by Twitter platform @im_every_where_ the obvious troll account received a tonne of heat for attempting to teach others how to get out of paying for a meal.

Check out the initial tweet below:

Essentially, the account is teaching people how to use the T&G (Touch & Go) payment method to scam these struggling businesses and hawkers. The goal is to use the app once upon first purchase then continuing to purchase the same meal so customers can present the screenshot from the previous purchase as if it was a new one.

Most people saw it as scummy and absolutely vile, especially when Malaysians are supposed to be supporting each other throughout these tough times. Regardless of the pandemic, this behaviour is unacceptable in every other circumstance too.

Naturally, netizens were quick to respond to this abysmal message, opposing the practice and theft.

Here are a few reactions:

After being called out, the admin quickly switched-up and changed their tune. Apparently, instead of being an itemised list on how to scam hawkers, the admin reinstated that the tweet was meant to “alert businesses” of the presence of these kinds of scams.

Take a look:

Of course, nobody’s buying the sudden spin on their agenda especially since, according to fellow Twitter users, the first few tweets stated that a friend of the admin actually went out to do this hence the need to teach others their sly tricks.

Check it out:

While that is problematic on its own, apparently this form of scam has been happening in Singapore as well.

Hawkers said other common methods used were cancelled transactions.
source: Straits Times

According to Straits Times, at least 15 hawker stalls have been duped by dishonest customers, which has caused the entire community to feel negatively about the e-payment method.

A 60-year-old hawker at Ang Mo Kio coffee shop said he had been conned at least 10-20 times. Feeling so disheartened, he couldn’t even find it in him to pursue the losses.

As mentioned in the tweet and by Straits Times, the pressure to churn out orders swiftly is one of the reasons how these hawkers can be scammed so frequently. It’s not hard to see why since most of these stalls have minimal workers.

Now that we’re aware of these scammers, we can be vigilant enough to spot them if they were to pull one of these stunts in-front of us. Don’t be afraid to step up and speak out because nobody deserves to be cheated out of making a decent and honest living.

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Do you see how they are struggling?