Monday, June 7, 2010

Scam Alert...200 gyros

A few years ago I read a message on eGullet about hearing restaurants receiving calls through hearing impaired relayers with large orders. These were always last minute and when the time came for the food to be picked up, no one would show. A quick google search shows that this is a very common scam.

I got my call just on Saturday - order for 200 gyros for mom's birthday on Tuesday. The caller gave the email

wsusan1128@gmail.com

which is googlable for the scam as well. They were willing to give a credit card but the scam messages say that the card will swipe fine but be deactivated before the money hits your bank. So where's the scam? No one gets any money or food, the restaurant is just out the expense of the prepared items.

Just a stupid prank? I don't think so since its been going on for years and with common emails and phone numbers. Since I'm conspiratorially minded I would like to know if the restaurant distributor is a commonality. I sure hope not but someone has to be getting something out of this.

2 comments:

Sharlene T. said...

Having had a store, I wouldn't think of doing this without someone physically coming to the restaurant and giving you a 50% deposit, in cash, and driver's license ID. Thanks for posting....

Anonymous said...

4 years later and this same email account is still being used. I just had several communications looking to book a photographer for a family reunion. After the initial communication, I then received an email asking if I could also act as middle-man and accept payment for the venue as the "venue would not accept a credit card." The email was one long run-on sentence with no capitalization or punctuation.