Young Man Loses Over RM1K In Puchong ‘Wine Dating’ Scam

The woman, a China national, took the initiative to invite the victim out.

Subscribe to our Telegram channel or follow us on the Lumi News app for the latest stories and updates.

A man in Malaysia fell victim to a scam after being invited to meet up by a foreign woman he met on social media.

Sin Chew reported that the victim, a 25-year-old multimedia designer known as Lim, met the Chinese woman earlier this month.

They met up in person on 15 May at a mamak stall in Puchong.

The woman then brought the man to a nearby bar where they were approached by a female staff outside the bar.

After they sat down, the staff gave them a menu and a QR code for online ordering.

The Chinese woman ordered a bottle of red wine, but when Lim tried to look at the menu, the staff quickly took it away.

A few minutes later, the staff brought over a bottle of red wine and glasses.

After drinking some of the wine, the victim started feeling drowsy, and the salesperson presented him with a card reader, asking him to pay.

The transaction amount was much higher than expected, and the salesperson claimed that the French red wine they drank cost RM1,200.

“When I took out my debit card to pay the bill, the interface of the card reader popped up a reminder that I needed to enter a password to complete the transaction because the amount exceeded the pre-set limit. After I took a closer look, I found that the transaction amounted to RM1,610.”
Scam victim Lim on being shocked by the hefty bill.

The staff said the rest was service charge.

Lim said that the girl immediately “proposed” to split the bill, but then she claimed that she did not have a bank account and only had RM600 in cash.

In the end, she gave RM550.

After the payment, the woman said her friend came to pick her up and the ‘date’ was over less than an hour.

Bar Said The Staff Is Not Its Employee

After the incident, Lim searched the Internet for news about the wine-receipt scam and realized that he had been cheated.

Lim said the receipt had no detailed information, and he tried to clarify with the staff but to no avail.

He also claimed that after complaining to customers at the next table, they told him he was the seventh “customer” of the woman for the day.

Another staff then came to look into the situation.

After questioning, he was told that the female salesperson was not an employee, and the establishment did not provide the wine list, red wine, decanter and wine glasses she served.

They also did not provide the card reader.

When Lim asked the staff why he didn’t intervene, he said that he was busy with work and couldn’t give any help, which made me feel speechless.
Scam victim Lim on his frustation with the bar.

On the other hand, Lim said he had reported the matter to the police and appealed to the public to take this as a lesson and not to fall into the wine-tendering scam.

He added that the woman sent another message to invite him to go out, but he rejected and was subsequently blocked the woman.