PUBLISHED ONNovember 03, 2026 4:00 AMBYKoh Xing YingA restaurant owner in Chinatown said he nearly fell for a scam after a customer allegedly used doctored photos showing a cockroach in the food to seek compensation over claims of contamination.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, Kok Sen Restaurant owner, Huang Zhaoqiang (transliteration), 50, said he received the complaint via WhatsApp on Saturday (Oct 31) at around 8am from a customer claiming to have discovered a cockroach in food purchased the previous day.
Despite providing a receipt showing a bill of only $110, the customer demanded a $300 in compensation.
"We were very flustered and scared at the time, so we apologised to the other party and said we would definitely take responsibility," said Huang.
However, Huang soon noticed several suspicious signs, particularly the customer's insistence on receiving immediate compensation even after being told that the restaurant needed a week to investigate the complaint.
The customer also threatened to report the restaurant to the authorities and expose them online if compensation was not paid immediately.
Further doubts arose when Huang discovered that the customer was using a Malaysian mobile number and had enabled WhatsApp's 24-hour disappearing messages feature.
Huang also questioned how a cockroach that appeared so clearly in the photograph could have gone unnoticed by the restaurant staff, as well as why the customer had waited until much later to raise the complaint.
Huang told Shin Min Daily News that his doubts deepened when he checked the restaurant's Google reviews and discovered that the latest review contained a photograph identical to the one sent by the complainant.
"Their methods were rather clumsy; they simply downloaded photos directly from the latest comments, processed them with artificial intelligence, and then sent them to us. We later discovered that even the receipts were found in Google," said Huang.
He added that the receipt revealed another discrepancy: it was dated Oct 22, contradicting the customer's account of when the food was purchased.
With the discrepancies uncovered, Huang told the complainant he would report the matter to the police, even as the sender insisted he was the original Google user who had posted the photo.
Huang said he has since lodged a police report.
Although the restaurant is equipped with 22 closed-circuit television cameras covering its premises, Huang urged fellow food operators to remain vigilant against similar scams.
"I have been in the food and beverage industry for so long, and this is the first time I have encountered one. I almost fell for it," said Huang.
AsiaOne has reached out to Kok Sen Restaurant for more information.
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