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Fake S’pore restaurant websites steal credit card details of diners making bookings
The Straits Times
|December 12, 2025
Another Singapore food and beverage (F&B) establishment has been the target of a scam, adding to a spate of incidents affecting the local industry.
According to Dr Martin Bem, founder of microbrewery-restaurant LeVeL33 at Marina Bay Financial Centre, fake websites that are clones of its official one surface when customers google keywords like "level33" and "reservation".
Diners then proceed to make a reservation and key in credit card details (as a pre-authorisation hold, not charge) - which is regular booking procedure on the restaurant's official website.
Dr Bem was made aware of the incidents on Dec 6, when diners showed up saying they had made reservations, although none were registered in the system.
Some diners also flagged suspicious credit card activity where attempted charges of $200 to $2,000 were made. All charges were reported and blocked by the relevant credit card issuers, Dr Bem says.
Dit verhaal komt uit de December 12, 2025-editie van The Straits Times.
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