DoorDash, Uber Eats posers steal from KC metro restaurant

LENEXA, Kan. – A local restaurant owner has a warning for others. He said thieves posing as delivery drivers, stole hundreds of dollars of food at his restaurants from Lee’s Summit to Lenexa.

The Owner of Pegah’s Family Restaurant said it’s been happening at all four of their restaurants. They have locations in Lenexa, Shawnee and Lee’s Summit

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Owner Moe Sharifi said his team puts to-go orders on a table by the door ready for DoorDash, Uber Eats and GrubHub drivers to pick-up.

He said recently, people posing as delivery drivers have been stealing orders.

Sharifi said it’s been happening more often. Last week, they got hit two or three times at each location, he said.

“That was very disappointing,” Sharifi said.

They’ve since implemented plans to stop it.

“We realized each restaurant started missing orders,” Sharifi said. “You either have to remake it, or the customer claims they haven’t received it. So, we have to refund their money.”

A spokesperson with Uber Eats sent FOX4 a statement saying:

“While this type of incident is rare, we encourage restaurants to keep orders behind the counter and ask couriers to confirm the order name before handing it to them. We’re working to reach out to the restaurant to see how we can support.”

A Grubhub Spokesperson sent a statement:

We take this extremely seriously and encourage restaurants to report any activity like this to our restaurant support team. While these situations are exceedingly rare, as a best practice we recommend that restaurants confirm they’ve received an order through Grubhub and that the driver information matches what’s shown in their Grubhub for Restaurants portal before handing off an order.”

DoorDash and the Missouri Restaurant Association shared similar reminders.

“Our message to restaurant owners is verify that the driver has an app that they’re supposed to be there picking up the order and that they clear the order out of the app when they take the order out of the restaurant,” MRA CEO Buddy Lahl said.

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Sharifi said employees have also been fielding phone calls from alleged scammers.

“It’s kind of frustrating,” Sharifi said. “They call all the time.”

He said the person on the other line wants access to the DoorDash tablet, which they don’t use, and their code to account information.

“To either get into the account for the money, or they will change your account so they can wire the money from DoorDash to them,” Sharifi said. “So, if the restaurant does $1,000 of orders, $2,000 of orders a day, and so that money could be scammed easily.”

A spokesperson with DoorDash told FOX4:

“DoorDash has no tolerance for fraud. As part of our commitment to providing a safe and high-quality service for merchants, we continually monitor our platform to prevent, detect, and take action against fraudulent behavior. We have reached out to Pegah’s Family Restaurant to further understand their situation and assist in reaching a resolution. If any member of our community identifies unusual activity with their account, we strongly encourage them to reach out to DoorDash Support immediately.”

“We tell the scammers,” Sharifi said. “Now we know who you are, don’t do it.”

Since the thefts, the owner has implemented new policies. He’s also installed a camera.

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