No joke: Man gets $1,700 sushi restaurant bill in Hong Kong after QR code prank

A sushi enthusiast shared a photograph of his meal on Facebook, only to be pranked by netizens who ordered more food for him via the QR code in the image. 

On Saturday (Oct 2), a man in Hong Kong posted in a sushi and sashimi interest group on Facebook, showing him dining in at Genki Sushi at East Point City in Tseung Kwan O. The accompanying caption of the post wrote, "Eating at Genki again today". 

The picture showed a plate of sushi, some empty plates in the background, but more incriminatingly — the QR code used for ordering food at the restaurant. These codes store information and can be read by a smartphone camera.  

Shortly after the photo was posted, netizens began adding orders to his tab. Coconuts Hong Kong also reported that the rapid influx of orders also caused some items to sell out on the restaurant's online system. 

Another Facebook user, Hung Chan, posted a screen recording detailing all the items that were ordered through the QR code.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/572608112/videos/pcb.1077379989665423/867293027256277[/embed]

The post also included an image of the receipt, as well as the total bill, which came up to HK $10,128 ($1,767). 

Thankfully, the restaurant did not charge the poor man for the orders created by the pranksters. 

Although the original post has since been removed from the Facebook group, it looks like fellow sushi enthusiasts in Hong Kong have learnt a lesson from the man's experience. 

Subsequent posts showing members of the group dining in at sushi restaurants included cheeky captions about not exposing their QR codes. 

This isn't the first time that sushi shenanigans have occurred in Asia, unfortunately. 

In March, 150 Taiwanese youths legally changed their name to 'Salmon' to get free food from a Japanese restaurant.

The restaurant was offering free meals to individuals whose names contained the Chinese characters for salmon. 

It was reported that some even got creative with their names, coming up with monikers such as Explosive Good Looking Salmon, and Meteor Salmon King. 

claudiatan@asiaone.com