Fraud and prank, two things that cannot be eliminated anytime soon on the web.
In recent years, stories of fake food delivery orders targeting Indonesia's app-based motorcycle taxi drivers (locally known as ojek online or ojol for short) have made frequent headlines and viral discussions, with the culprit being mocked.
The stories about fake orders are somehow repeating, and claimed even more unfortunate drivers as victims.
But in the case of an ojol driver in Semarang, Central Java, things were different.
As reported by Coconuts Media, a multi-national media company in Asia, the ojol driver was unfortunate to have been tricked twice in a row by the same customer.
His story was so heartbreaking that the city's Mayor made himself involved.
The story began a week before, when a 59-year-old ojol driver named Audy Hamdani received an order of 14 portions of ayam geprek (a popular dish where fried chicken is smashed with chilli) and drinks.
Because the person who ordered it set to have the driver be paid upon delivery, Audy had to pay for the dishes, which costed him out of his pocket Rp 315,000 ($21.22) in total.
But unfortunately for him, the driver who braved the heavy rain at the time to make the delivery to South Semarang district, found that the address the customer gave him through the app, led him to an empty house.
The elderly driver found a shelter nearby to prevent the food from getting wet and called the customer. The irresponsible customer asked him to cancel the order, meaning that Audy's money and effort, came to waste.
Later, while Audy was still sheltering from the rain, he received a phone call from the customer, asking him to check on his balance at a nearby ATM. Subconsciously, he did what the customer told him to do, followed the instruction, and tricked to have his balance transferred to the customer.
That customer drained Rp 500,000 from his account to buy phone credits. After that, the customer vanished by blocking Audy's number.
Audy who was scammed twice in a row by the same person, gave the 12 portions of ayam geprek to an orphanage in the area.
"My earnings every day range from Rp 30,000 to Rp 70,000 ($2 to $4.71)."
And things got worse for him during this 'COVID-19' coronavirus pandemic, which further dropped his income.
"What’s important for me is being able to work and staying healthy," the unfortunate driver said, describing his misfortune.
His story that circulated online and through social media, quickly went viral. It got to a point that Semarang Mayor Hendrar Prihadi took notice.
The Mayor, and later invited the ojol driver to his office to give him some financial assistance.
"Hendi gave me an advice to be more careful so that a similar incident wouldn’t happen again, and he also wished me to be healthy and encourage me to keep on working,” said Audy, referring to the Mayor by his nickname, recalling that he couldn't hold back his tears while meeting the Mayor.
GrabFood, Audy's employer for its part, fully compensated for the cost for this fake order, and also deactivated the irresponsible customer who scammed him.
“We appeal to GrabFood users to appreciate the hard work our driver partners do in carrying out their jobs, especially during the challenging time of this pandemic,” said GrabFood Indonesia’s spokesman Hady Surya Koe.
