SINGAPORE: A man took to social media after his wife scanned a QR code at a Jollibee outlet in Waterway Point and was charged S$7.99 on her next SingTel bill.
In a Nov 8 post on the Complaint Singapore Facebook group page, Andy Quek posted a photo of a Jollibee countertop standee with a QR code.
It asked those willing to participate in a “share your experience” survey to scan the code. In return, they would get a free serving of regular fries or a Vanilla Twirl cup.
However, this is not what happened.
On Nov 1, Mr Quek’s wife scanned the code, which then asked for her phone number. She then received an SMS telling her she had subscribed to “Next Battle via SingTel carrier billing.”
She immediately cancelled it. However, on their next bill from SingTel on Nov 7, they saw they had been charged S$7.99.
“Jollibee Singapore, is this your way of scamming people?” Mr Quek asked.
He has since edited his post with three updates.
First, he said that he had told the management of Jollibee through the company’s Facebook and Instagram accounts and added that he would be lodging a police report as well.
In the second update, he wrote that he had heard from Jollibee and posted a screenshot of its response.
The company said it was conducting “a thorough investigation” on the matter and would get back to Mr Quek by Monday (Nov 11) at the latest.
He added that he had also since heard from SingTel, which assured him they would do a one-time waiver.
However, Mr Quek wrote, “This is not right and not ethical as SingTel will be absorbing the charge, and the ‘scam’ company will still get paid.
Thus, I have asked SingTel NOT to waive the charge and will go after Jollibee.”
When The Independent Singapore contacted Mr Quek, he told us that he heard from Jollibee again, which let him know that they would refund the $7.99 he had been charged.
“They also updated that the police have contacted them and started an investigation on the matter,” he added.
He attached a screen grab of the police report he filed. In it, he wrote that the QR code had looked legitimate and noted that it had been placed in an “established” fast food restaurant.
Mr Quek also wrote that it had no warnings concerning additional charges for those who scan the code.
Some commenters on his post surmised that another QR code had been pasted over the one at Jollibee Waterway Point, especially since others have been able to participate in Jollibee’s survey.
This has been known to happen in other instances.
The Independent Singapore has also contacted Jollibee Singapore for further comments or updates. /TISG
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