15-year-old arrested for attempting to con a Grab rider for $50 order

A group of teenagers were accused of trying to con a Grab rider out of $50 worth of food during a lunchtime order run–which resulted in one of the teens arrested.

Remember kids, crime doesn’t pay.

What happened with the order?

According to a report by Asia One, a group of teenagers had booked a cash-on-delivery order with a Grab rider late night on August 4 Tuesday. The delivery rider chosen by the system was Syed Shafiq, who spoke to the website in an interview.

The teens allegedly pinned the dropoff at Blk 248 Compassvale, but the rider said that when he arrived, there was no one there to pick up the food.

WhatsApp conversation with teenage fraudsters

The rider contacted their number through the WhatsApp messaging mobile app, but received a reply that explained their absence that was quite strange.

The customers said that they had mistakenly chosen the Cash on Delivery option and were unable to meet him as they were in a meeting. They instead promised that they would give him a tip through a different payment method. They said they would transfer the money owed to him once their meeting was over.

Knowing that their request would make him assume too much risk for the transaction, Syed he would not give them the food if they did not pay him up front, as per Grab’s rules when you choose Cash on Delivery.

The two parties continued to have a conversation, with the customers insisting that he would be compensated and Syed refusing to budge because of the risk. In the end, when Syed asked Grab what to do, they advised him to just leave the food at the drop-off, and that he would be reimbursed.

According to Syed, there were several signs that he was being pranked or even outright fooled so the customer would get the food for free. In the report, he said,

“I felt something fishy when people from kept on going out to throw rubbish at the chute.

“Suspected that these kids must have pulled this off. I waited near the chute to see who would collect and my suspicions were true.”

Syed then took video of the incident, and saw that two young people emerged from a different unit than the one indicated in the drop-off. On the video, one person could be seen being a lookout while the other grabbed the food, pun intended.

Grab rider calls the police

Once the footage was secured, Syed called the police, but the teenagers were able to leave before the former arrived.

Police have confirmed that a 15-year-old was arrested in connection to the case, and investigation are being conducted.

Grab urges customers and riders to follow the rules

In a statement, Grab said that it was aware of the incident and said, “We urge all users on our platform to treat one another with respect and kindness. Users who have repeatedly displayed errant behaviour may be suspended or banned from the platform.”

Syed also said that riders must be vigilant and always wait for payment to be secured before releasing the orders.