Some people have gotten sick of only taking free food samples at the supermarket and have taken this to the next level.
They’re “splurging” by buying lots of food and drinks at restaurants, but not really.
While the bill may look hefty, it didn’t exactly drain their pockets as no money was forked out.
Two men were recently arrested for participating in several dine-and-dash incidents, having accumulated over $2,000 worth of unpaid bills.
Their Acts Surfaced Online First
On 9 April, SMOOBar along Prinsep Street uploaded a Facebook post alerting the public that four customers, including three men and one woman, left the establishment without paying.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt, SMOOBar called their actions “accidental” as they thought the customers may have forgotten to pay, although they were handed the receipt.
The bill was $275, and the restaurant emphasised that it was important to get the money back as business costs, rental, and stock payments were increasing.
The group visited the restaurant on 8 April separately between 8:10 pm and 8:20 pm and also left separately at 10:53 pm, 10:57 pm and 10:58 pm.
They left behind several items on the table, including a cloth bag and earphones.
CCTV screenshots have captured members of the group while they were at the restaurant.
Two days later, on 10 April, the restaurant identified two of the male customers and even found their Instagram handles.
One of the employees told Shin Min Daily News that they managed to track their identities by asking another table of customers.
They wanted to settle the bill over Instagram DMs by 9 April, but failed to do so.
Although the customers requested to leave the receipt on their table, they still left without making payment.
The post detailing this mentioned that one of the customers was previously involved in a case of shoplifting in 2017.
He allegedly stole a can of beer, a can of chicken and mushroom soup and instant noodles from a shop at Eunos Bus Interchange.
He later sent a letter apologising to the shop with a $20 note attached to it, saying that his parents had punished him for the act.
SMOOBar realised that the group’s actions weren’t an accident in a subsequent post detailing the debacle.
They reached out to the last male customer, who told them that he would head over after work to the restaurant to make payment on 11 April at 7 pm.
However, he did not show up and told the restaurant that another one of the customers would be making a payment of $100, but the customer’s Instagram account was later found to be deactivated.
They found that the last male customer owed several establishments money and filed a police report.
SMOOBar posted several screenshots of their conversation with the customer over Telegram.
Finally, on 14 April, they confirmed that payment was finally made, posting a conversation with another one of the customers, who was angered that they exposed him on social media, even going as far as throwing derogatory terms at them.
Another Establishment Speaks Out
After coming across SMOOBar’s post, another restaurant, Jyu Gae Bistro, accused the same customers of leaving without paying on 13 April.
They identified two customers involved in the SMOOBar incident, who also visited them without paying their bill of $289.98 on 11 March.
The two men had allegedly left the restaurant for a smoke break and said they would return to settle their bill but never returned.
Like SMOOBar, the restaurant thought they had forgotten to pay the bill, but it was proven wrong.
The Consequences
The two men, aged 20 and 23, were not only involved in incidents related to SMOOBar and Jyu Gae Bistro.
Five restaurants had reported them to the police for leaving without paying, according to a statement released by the police on Wednesday (19 April).
The reports were made against them between 5 April to 13 April, and they allegedly owe all of these establishments more than $2,000.
According to the police, the pair either promised the restaurants they would pay but left quietly or used an expired bank card where transactions were declined.
The two men could face up to ten years of prison and a fine for conspiring to cheat.
On 21 July 2022, a group of 16 diners visited Rasa Istimewa Waterfront Restaurant and left without paying their $1,188 bill.
They had ordered two ten pax set meals for over $238 each, plus drinks and 60 sticks of satay.
Short-staffed, the restaurant staff had assumed that the group paid their bill before having dessert and let them walk off after they were done with dessert.
They had only realised later on that the tab for their table was not closed. Unfortunately, they couldn’t reach a single customer in that group afterwards.
No one from the group returned to pay for the food and drinks.
Wary of repeating the situation, the restaurant has implemented extra steps such as holding on to a customer’s credit card and asking them for their contact numbers to ensure all bills are paid.
As for the two men who got arrested, they somehow weren’t as lucky as these 16 customers.
In an odd incident that occurred in March last year, two customers who both got the impression that one was going to pay for the other left a restaurant without paying.
The couple, who had forked up a bill of $269.55, had met online and decided to have their first date at Pa Bul Lo Korean BBQ Restaurant in Serangoon Gardens.
The apologetic woman paid half the bill to the restaurant, while the man refused to pay and laughed at the owner, telling them to report him to the police and sue him.
Though the man was making a mountain out of a molehill, the owner still reported him to the police but was redirected to a lawyer who settled the situation.