Lamb biryani, chicken lollipops, premium platter & more – a lavish takeaway order totalling $364 was placed at Indian Accent, Flat Bush on 18 May 2025. But while the food left the kitchen, the payment never arrived.
Mandeep Singh from Indian Accent restaurant is raising alarm after a pair allegedly defrauded the restaurant by showing a “fake payment photo of a bank transfer” after claiming their card wasn’t working.
“The card declined, so the man showed me that he had bank transferred the money,” Singh shared with The Indian Weekender.
“The photo of the bank statement looked authentic, but was fake as we never received the money into our account,” Singh said.
However, Singh was alert and took a copy of the pair’s driver’s licence and phone number.
Initially brushing off the incident as a one-off case of failed payment, Singh later discovered that the same pair had “defrauded” other restaurants too.
“I saw a Facebook post by Rak Khun – Thai Eatery & Bar in Takanini on 21 May reporting a similar situation,” Singh recalled.
The Facebook post sought “community assistance” and featured photos of the same “suspects.” It described how a customer’s card had been declined, after which a photo of a bank transfer was shown. However, three days later, the restaurant still hadn’t received the payment.
The post urged other restaurant owners to be cautious.
According to the Facebook post, Rak Khun – Thai Eatery & Bar suffered a total loss of $468.
Singh reached out to the woman again via WhatsApp to request payment, but was told “she needs time till Monday to make the payment.”
“I then decided to lodge a police complaint,” Singh said.
Police confirmed to The Indian Weekender that they had received a report concerning fraud at a Flat Bush restaurant this month.
“Police are in the process of assessing this report for any further action,” the police said.
After seeing the post from Rak Khun – Thai Eatery & Bar, Singh compiled details of the couple and made a Facebook post to warn other community members. However, that post drew unwanted attention.
“I have been getting calls since yesterday at the restaurant from an unidentified person who is using curse words at us. The man on the call is asking us to remove the post with his number plates,” Singh said.
Singh has since escalated the matter to police, providing audio recordings of the abusive calls and noting that other restaurant owners have reportedly experienced similar incidents.
While the matter remains with the police, comments on the posts shared by Singh and others have been circulated in groups to alert community members.
“We have received additional information from the complainants in recent days concerning this event,” the police added.
ISSUE
