'This is not us': Crab & Burger warns of 'Crabs & Burgers' after man gets scammed out of $4,135

See a great deal for crabs online? Beware.

Crab & Burger is warning the public of a scammer posing as the restaurant after a person was conned on Christmas day.

"We have been notified that someone ordered and was scammed $4,000," Crab & Burger told Stomp.

In response to a Stomp query, police confirmed that a police report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

The report was made by the scam victim whose name is Jeff.

He said: "On Dec 25 at about 6.45pm, I was scrolling through TikTok and saw an advertisement from a shop called Crabs & Burgers. It shows that there is a promotion of 50 per cent off. The advertisement also showed that they were selling crabs for $19.40 per 500g and they could deliver within 25 to 50 minutes.

"I was interested so I clicked on the 'Visit store' button, and it led me to the Crabs & Burgers website."

The total cost of his order was $56.34 including delivery fees.

"I filled in my Maybank debit card details into the website and clicked on 'Order now'," Jeff continued.

"Afterwards, the website then showed that I had to provide an OTP (one-time password) to the merchant.

"At first, it took a while for me to receive the OTP, so I clicked on the 'Haven't received a one-time passcode' link.

"Then at 6.53pm, I received an OTP from Maybank. I input the OTP into the website, and it said that the OTP had expired, but I received another SMS that stated that an amount of PLN9,260 was deducted from my card and was used at a merchant called LEDGER."

PLN stands for the Polish zloty. PLN9,260 is about S$2,832.

"Subsequently, I received another OTP for a deduction of PLN5,826.75 (S$1,782), which I did not enter on the website.

"I found it very suspicious after I looked at both SMSes as the amount did not tally with the amount that was supposed to be deducted for my order.

"Then I checked my bank account balance and a total of S$4,135.08 was deducted from my Maybank account."

Jeff called the bank immediately to block more deductions and made a police report that evening.

On the same night, Crab & Burger posted on its Facebook page: "Dear customers, media & friends it has come to our attention that someone is using our brand for unethical purpose.

"Please order directly from the listed platforms only @oddleeats @foodpandasg @grabfoodsg @deliveroo_sg."

The scammer used a different crab logo with the name "Crabs & Burgers" instead of Crab & Burger, but the branding is similar enough to cause confusion.

A fully delivery-based restaurant, Crab & Burger is helmed by chef Jodin Choo, formerly of Lobster & Burger.