New scam costs both restaurants and customers money

By Greg Collier

Food delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash are some of the most convenient services out there. Before these platforms existed, you could only get food delivered from a handful of restaurants. You were mostly limited to either pizza or Chinese food in many markets. Now, you can get delivery from just about every restaurant or chain out there. And just think how invaluable these services were during the height of the pandemic. Previously, we’ve shown how the drivers for these services could be scammed. Now there’s a delivery scam that affects not only the drivers, but the restaurants and customers as well.

A report out of Indiana states that a number of restaurants in one town have been targeted by this scam. Scammers are looking out for restaurants that aren’t on these delivery platforms. The scammers then pose as the restaurants and fill out phony profiles on the delivery apps. An app user will find the phony listing and then pay for a delivery from the restaurant. A delivery driver will be notified of a delivery being needed, which they typically get paid for. The driver will go to the restaurant looking for the order only to be told by the restaurant they don’t use their platform.

The customer is out of money because they just paid a scammer instead of a restaurant. The driver is out of money because they won’t be paid for that delivery. And the restaurant loses out on a potential sale.

Restaurants have been calling the platforms to have their listings removed, but in some cases, the phony profiles keep returning.

If you’re a consumer looking to order a delivery from a restaurant, go to their website first to make sure they use one of the delivery platforms before using that delivery app. Plus, that restaurant could have their own delivery staff.