Kok Sen Restaurant boss narrowly escapes falling for ‘cockroach in dish’ blackmail scam

Kok Sen Restaurant owner Jacky Wong alerted the police after he spotted telltale red flags in an alleged diner’s complaint.

PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

Published Nov 04, 2026, 01:58 PM

Updated Nov 04, 2026, 01:58 PM

SINGAPORE - The owner of a restaurant in Chinatown narrowly avoided paying out hundreds of dollars to an extortion scam after catching a fraudster who digitally edited a cockroach into a customer’s photo.

Jacky Wong, owner of Kok Sen Restaurant – an eatery in Keong Saik Road known for its zi char (or “cook and fry” in Hokkien) dishes – received a WhatsApp message on Oct 31 from an alleged diner who claimed to have found a cockroach in their meal the previous day.

The person demanded $300 in compensation, sending several photos of the “tainted” dish and a receipt for more than $110.

“We panicked and were very worried at the time, so we apologised to the other party and said we would certainly take responsibility,” Wong told Chinese-language newspaper Shin Min Daily News.

However, he soon sensed something amiss when he asked for a week to look into the matter. The sender refused to wait, claiming an urgent need for money and threatening to report Kok Sen to the authorities or post about the incident online if the compensation was not made immediately.

The reaction sparked Wong’s suspicion. “If they were so strapped of money, why would they go out for a meal and spend over $110?” he questioned.

There were other red flags. The sender had messaged from a Malaysian mobile number, enabled WhatsApp’s 24-hour disappearing messages feature and communicated strictly in English.

“The second red flag was that the cockroach was in such a conspicuous spot that it was impossible for the waiter not to have seen it when serving the meal,” Wong said of the photo that accompanied the complaint.

“Moreover, the person did not report it to us immediately at the time, but demanded compensation only afterwards.”

The scheme unravelled when Wong cross-checked Google Reviews and found an identical photo uploaded by someone just days before.

The photo featured the exact same spread, a can of soft drink and an identical arm. The only difference: an image of a cockroach had been digitally inserted into the bottom-left corner of the shot.

Jacky Wong realised that the dishes in the photo were identical, but the bottom-left corner had been tampered with, with a “cockroach” digitally inserted into the image. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

Jacky Wong realised that the dishes in the photo were identical, but the bottom-left corner had been tampered with, with a “cockroach” digitally inserted into the image.

“They simply downloaded a photo from a recent review, used AI to alter it and sent it to us,” Wong said.

A closer look revealed the scammer had also lifted the receipt from Google Reviews, which was dated Oct 22, contradicting the scammer’s claims of dining there on Oct 30.

When Wong confronted the blackmailer and threatened to report the incident to the police, the scammer claimed to have already posted the digitally altered photos on Google Reviews.

The restaurant owner then reported the case to the police.

The restaurant in Keong Saik Road has a total of 22 CCTV cameras, allowing staff to monitor conditions inside and outside the premises at any time. PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

The restaurant in Keong Saik Road has a total of 22 CCTV cameras, allowing staff to monitor conditions inside and outside the premises at any time.

Wong disclosed that his restaurant is fitted with a total of 22 CCTV cameras, which would make it straightforward to dispute false allegations and verify on-site incidents.

Reflecting on the close shave, Wong admitted that he might not have spotted the deception in time had the scammer lifted a photo from an older review.

“I am sharing this story primarily to warn other restaurants and hawkers that similar scams have been emerging recently,” Wong said. “This was the first time I encountered something like this after having been in the F&B industry for so long, and I nearly fell for it.”

Restaurants/Eateries

Food and beverage sector

国鲜餐厅老板黄先生在发现一名顾客投诉中存在明显的疑点后，立即报警。

图片来源：新明日报

发布于 2026 年 11 月 4 日下午 1:58

更新于2026年11月4日下午1:58

新加坡——唐人街一家餐馆的老板险些因敲诈勒索而损失数百美元，他抓获了一名诈骗犯，该诈骗犯使用数字技术将一只蟑螂添加到顾客的照片中。

位于恭锡路的国鲜餐厅老板黄先生（Jacky Wong）以煮炒（福建话中的“煮炒”）菜肴而闻名。10 月 31 日，他收到一条 WhatsApp 消息，据称是一位食客发来的，声称在前一天的饭菜中发现了一只蟑螂。

该人要求赔偿 300 美元，并发送了几张“被污染”菜肴的照片和一张超过 110 美元的收据。

黄先生告诉中文报纸《新明日报》：“当时我们惊慌失措，非常担心，所以我们向对方道歉，并表示我们一定会承担责任。”

然而，当他要求一周时间调查此事时，他很快察觉到不对劲。发件人拒绝等待，声称急需用钱，并威胁说如果得不到立即赔偿，就向有关部门举报郭森，或将此事发布到网上。

这一反应引起了黄的怀疑。“如果他们真的那么缺钱，为什么还要出去吃饭，而且还花了110多美元呢？”他质疑道。

还有其他一些可疑之处。发件人使用马来西亚手机号码发送消息，启用了WhatsApp的24小时阅后即焚功能，并且全程使用英语交流。

“第二个疑点是，这只蟑螂的位置非常显眼，服务员在上菜时不可能看不到它，”黄先生在谈到投诉中附带的照片时说道。

“此外，该人当时并没有立即向我们报告此事，而是事后才要求赔偿。”

当 Wong 交叉核对 Google 评论时，发现有人在几天前上传了一张一模一样的照片，骗局才得以败露。

照片内容完全相同，包括一罐软饮料和一只相同的手臂。唯一的区别是：照片左下角被后期添加了一张蟑螂的图片。

黄杰发现照片中的菜肴一模一样，但左下角被人动过手脚，用数码技术添加了一只“蟑螂”。（图片来源：新明日报）

Jacky Wong 发现照片中的菜肴一模一样，但左下角被人动过手脚，用数字技术在图像中插入了一只“蟑螂”。

“他们只是从最近的评论中下载了一张照片，用人工智能对其进行了修改，然后发送给了我们，”黄说。

仔细查看后发现，骗子还从 Google 评论中盗用了收据，收据上的日期是 10 月 22 日，这与骗子声称自己在 10 月 30 日在那里用餐的说法相矛盾。

当黄女士与勒索者对峙并威胁要报警时，骗子声称已经将经过数码修改的照片发布到了谷歌评论上。

餐厅老板随后向警方报案。

恭锡路这家餐厅共安装了22个闭路电视摄像头，方便员工随时监控餐厅内外的情况。（图片来源：新明日报）

恭锡路的这家餐厅共有 22 个闭路电视摄像头，使员工能够随时监控餐厅内外的情况。

黄先生透露，他的餐厅共安装了 22 个闭路电视摄像头，这将有助于驳斥虚假指控并核实现场事件。

回想起这次侥幸脱身的经历，黄承认，如果骗子是从以前的评论中盗用照片，他可能就无法及时发现骗局了。

黄先生说：“我分享这个故事主要是为了提醒其他餐馆和小贩，最近出现了类似的骗局。我在餐饮业从业这么多年，还是第一次遇到这种事，差点就上当了。”

餐厅/餐馆

食品和饮料行业