From Mamak To Dodgy Bar: M'sian Tricked Into Buying Chinese Woman RM1,610 Wine On Date
Christopher Ling said he shared his story to prevent others from falling victim to the "wine scam".
By Yap Wan Xiang — 22 May 2023, 06:32 PM
A Malaysian man was allegedly tricked into paying RM1,610 for a bottle of wine while on a date with a Chinese national whom he met on Facebook Dating
Sharing his ordeal in a lengthy Facebook post last Thursday, 18 May, Christopher Ling said that he only started talking to her nine days after they matched on the dating platform.
The woman, who described herself as half-Chinese and half-Taiwanese, suggested meeting at a mamak in Puchong, Selangor. He thought that the dating location was unusual and safe for both parties, so he agreed to meet her at 8pm on Monday, 15 May.
But little did he know that the decision to choose a mamak as their first date spot was allegedly part of a deliberate scheme to make him agree to meet in person.
When he arrived at the mamak, he ordered a roti canai and teh o ais while waiting for her.
Ling said he agreed to meet the woman because choosing a mamak as their first date spot was unique.
Image via Christopher Ling (Facebook)After Ling waited for more than 15 minutes, the woman messaged him to say she wanted to meet up elsewhere
They met up not too far away from the mamak. Then, they walked around the area to look for food.
Ling suggested that going to a mamak was the easiest option at that hour, but the woman quickly responded, "I don't eat that."
"I should have been vigilant the moment she said that," said the 25-year-old multimedia designer.
They later decided to enter a bar after being approached by a promoter. The woman then took the lead to order a bottle of wine.
Ling said he tried to look for the item his date ordered on the menu, but the promoter suddenly snatched it away from him.
After a few minutes, the wine was served in a decanter without the bottle
Confused, Ling asked his date whether she was a regular at the bar, to which she replied, "No, it's my first time."
He said after he took a sip, the woman asked for some ice and the promoter took his glass away to add some.
"I'm not sure if it was really ice, but after a few sips, my consciousness started to fade.
"I felt a little fuzzy at first, but I held on. I drank some water to try to sober up," he said.
Just as he was not feeling his best, the promoter came to ask him to pay the bill
Ling said the promoter took out a payment terminal, and he proceeded to swipe his debit card on it.
Still feeling dizzy, he was asked to enter his PIN, which confused him. He looked closer at the amount he needed to pay, and it surprised him that the bill was a whopping RM1,610.08.
"Something is wrong. Am I hallucinating? What is so expensive?" he thought to himself, before asking the promoter, "What kind of wine is this?"
The promoter replied that it was a French wine. At that moment, Ling realised that he had been scammed.
The receipt shows a Damansara Utama address even though Ling claimed that the incident happened at a bar in Puchong.
Image via Christopher Ling (Facebook)"I looked at the girl. I was very angry and didn't know what to do. She said, 'I didn't know it was so expensive because it was introduced by the promoter'," Ling recounted
He then looked at the menu and found out that the wine cost RM1,200 before the service tax.
The woman suggested splitting the bill, to which Ling agreed to avoid embarrassment in front of the promoter as he was feeling tipsy.
The woman took out RM550 from her wallet and gave it to him. Ling then checked the authenticity of the banknotes.
"She scolded me for not trusting her. I said it wasn't about trust, but safety," he wrote on the Facebook post, adding that the woman "drank the wine so fast as if it was water".
About an hour later, at 9pm, the woman told him that she would be leaving and her friends would pick her up.
"I said, 'Huh? It's only 9pm. Leave so early?'. The woman replied, 'There is nothing left to drink. Or should we go somewhere else to eat?'," Ling said.
Fearing that he would be scammed again, he turned her down.
Feeling bummed out by how the night went, he talked to the people at the table next to him and found out that the woman had met seven other men before him
"Wanita itu stay di sini lama lo. Kamu ialah no. 7 orang di sini. (This woman was here for a long time today, you were the seventh man she met," the customer next to him said.
He learned that the group only spent RM150 on drinks. He then confronted the staff members of the bar to find out what went wrong.
The staff members told him that the promoter Ling was describing did not work at the bar, but they always saw her in the establishment.
Ling then asked how the woman got her hands on the glassware and the menu, but the staff members said that they did not know, citing that they were busy serving customers.
When SAYS reached out to Ling, he confirmed that the receipt printed out by the 'promoter' had a different address than the bar he was in.
"Yes, the 'promoter' used a payment terminal machine that she brought there herself," he said.
Ling has lodged a police report on the matter
He also found out that what he experienced is a common modus operandi, dubbed the "wine scam", adding that he came across a July 2022 news report of a similar incident on Sin Chew Daily.
He concluded the Facebook post by saying that the reason he shared his story was to prevent others from sharing the same fate.
SAYS has reached out to the bar for a statement, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
