Grab food or Grab money?

Grabfood riders are the ones who we rely on to deliver our meals to us at any hour of the day. Regardless of the weather, they always seem to deliver. Thus, stories of them on the job always seem to tug at our heartstrings. It wasn’t the case when Fara Khan, the owner of Sabrina N Wusqa, shared her experience on social media. Fara posted a series of stories on her Instagram describing her encounter with a Grab delivery rider. During the month of Ramadan, a Grab rider visited her shop at East Village mall around 7pm. The rider approached her staff and mentioned that he had just made a delivery at a unit upstairs and he had left his belongings in his Grab bag with his bike. He claimed that his bike had been tampered with, and that he lost his wallet, phone, IC, his bike battery as well as his Grab bag. Allegedly, the rider was on the verge of tears as he told his story. “I don’t do Grabfood full time. I work as a designer at Geylang and part time as a Grab delivery rider in the evening to make ends meet,” he had said to the staff at Fara’s shop. The staff offered to use her own phone to call his wife, but the rider claimed he couldn’t remember his wife’s number. Instead, he proceeded to tell the staff that he needed only S$40 for a taxi fare to bring the tampered bike along with him.

Out of sympathy, the staff gave the rider S$50. The rider noted her name and number, saying he would return her the money. Unfortunately, the S$50 did not seem enough for the Grab rider as he proceeded to go to the shop next door and use a different story: “My wife can’t answer the call as she was cleaning rooms till 2am”. This “earned” him another S$50.

Rider’s ruse not the first time The Grab delivery rider did not limit his side-hustle to the East side. Shop owners at Woodlands, Yishun, and Choa Chu Kang came forward to share their experiences.

Images: Sabrina N Wusqa, Fara Khan, Facebook

Reportedly, the sob stories ranged from losing his belongings to stolen food delivery items which he needed money to refund. From multiple witness accounts, the rider in question seemed to be travelling islandwide to execute his con. Netizens found and tagged the alleged conman in the Facebook comments under Fara’s posting. His profile describes him as an “e-commerce unfranchised business owner and website designer”. Despite Fara’s report, there has yet to be any updates on the situation.