Order and dash? Vendor claims $400 worth of durians stolen in scam

A durian shop owner wants to warn others after falling victim to a purported scam whereby a customer ordered $400 worth of durians but did not pay.

Speaking to AsiaOne on Monday (Dec 16), 29-year-old owner of Durian Kaki, Adam Ho, said that the incident had occurred last Thursday.

According to Ho, the individual who claimed to be a regular customer had reached out him via WhatsApp at around 11.30am, wanting to place an order for his company event with door-to-door delivery.

He was "really friendly" while communicating with Ho, and there was "no reason doubt to his intentions whatsoever".

The customer claimed to have an event with 10 to 15 people attending and after rounds of negotiation, Ho agreed to sell him 10 boxes of Mao Shan Wang durians at a discounted price of $40 per box.

Durians taken during deliveryman's break

The order was scheduled to be delivered before 6pm, and Ho's deliveryman arrived at the HDB unit at 5.45pm.

The deliveryman noted that the unit appeared "abandoned" due to a stash of flyers under the door.

He also reported that no one came to receive the durians.

This did not raise any suspicions however, as Ho contacted the customer and confirmed the address. Videos and photos of the order were also sent to the person to verify the delivery.

He subsequently instructed the deliveryman to wait for 10 minutes to see if the customer would come to retrieve the durians.  

The deliveryman went for a smoke break in the meantime, leaving the durians hanging on the door of the unit while he left the premises.

The durians had been taken from the door when he returned, prompting the deliveryman to conclude his job and leave.

"The entire process from reaching the place and my rider having a smoke till the durians were taken was 12 minutes," said Ho.

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Customer repeatedly delayed payment

Ho sent the customer multiple reminders to pay for the durians but was met with a variety of excuses.

The person eventually blocked Ho's number after being sent a final warning with a threat to report him to the police.

Ho proceeded to file a police report upon realising that he had been scammed.

In response to AsiaOne's queries, the police confirmed that a report was lodged.

'Trust is a two-way street'

Ho told AsiaOne that this is the first time he had encountered such an incident.

When asked about how payment is usually made, he said that 60 per cent of customers will order and pay the full amount while others will pay upon receiving the durians and checking the quality.

Ho also said he "doesn't really believe in deposits" and likes to give customers the benefit of the doubt even when payments are late, citing the example of how some have paid him only after getting their pay checks.

He also considers it the norm among most durian sellers for customers to make payment only upon delivery. 

Moving forward, Ho stated that he remains confident in his current payment methods and will not be implementing any changes.

"The thing that I will change is more to how we interact with the customers," he said.

Instead of leaving the durians at the door for contactless delivery, he wants to make sure that a customer is there to receive the order. 

Durian Kaki also posted about the incident on their Facebook page on December 13, thanking customers for their support while warning other durian vendors about the scam. 

"Trust is a two-way street, and we choose to keep walking it," it stated.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com