A Virginia business owner has offered a reward to track down a “restaurant orderer and run” who has used four different aliases to leave his restaurant without paying.
Alex Kang, owner of Okonomi Asian Grill in Fairfax, Virginia, lost $150 worth of food orders after the same man scammed him through the delivery service DoorDash.
According to Kang, the man places orders and then cancels them after he personally picks them up, unlike a delivery driver.
The man has used different names, including Simbarashe, Walter and Courtney, to place the orders for himself and others, before making the cancellations.
On Tuesday, Kang issued a $150 reward for information related to identifying the perpetrator and told News4 he was inspired after seeing the missing cat poster.
Alex Kang, owner of Okonomi Asian Grill in Fairfax, Virginia, lost $150 worth of food orders after the same man, seen here smiling, scammed him through the delivery service DoorDash.
According to Kang, the man places orders and then cancels them after he personally picks them up, unlike a delivery driver.
He told the outlet: “I saw a poster of a cat in my neighbourhood and thought I’d try something similar.”
The most recent incident occurred on August 5, when the alleged dine-in customer picked up a $26.50 order and then cancelled it after picking up the food.
Kang said his workers foiled one of the robbery attempts and refused to give him the food until it was reordered.
Due to the incessant theft, he has taken each incident to the city of Fairfax, who have so far been unable to make an arrest in the case.
According to Kang, he manages to cancel orders on the app before his employees have a chance to confirm they have been picked up.
He continued: “IIf my workers don’t press that button before delivering the food, then they have a 10-second window in which they can cancel the order.
“We have changed the protocol now: when we see that the person comes to pick it up, we immediately tell them that it has already been picked up.”
Kang, seen here, issued a $150 reward for information related to helping identify the perpetrator, and told News4 he was inspired after seeing the missing cat poster.
The man places the orders and then cancels them after he personally picks them up, unlike a delivery driver.
Kang said his workers foiled one attempt to steal from him and refused to deliver his food until he ordered it again.
Despite that, Kang said the new method of dealing with the man has not worked for them.
He added: “What you are doing now is calling DoorDash immediately after the transaction to say that the restaurant is closed or that you were unable to fulfill the order. Which causes DoorDash to close the shop.
According to Kang, the first responding officer laughed at how strange the whole situation was.
Kang added: “I understand why she was so confused and laughed. The amount is so small that it’s really not worth wasting time on.
A Fairfax police spokesman said: ‘There were three in April and one on August 5.
“From what I’ve seen, the restaurant has been targeted four times this year. We want restaurants to verify the DoorDash transaction before handing the order over to the pick-up person.”
Kang said what had upset him most was DoorDash’s response, which did not reimburse him for the stolen food or provide him with the suspect’s account information.
Due to the incessant theft, he has taken each incident to the city of Fairfax, who have so far been unable to make an arrest in the case.
According to Kang, he manages to cancel orders on the app before his employees have a chance to confirm that they have been picked up.
He added: “In reality, you’re taking the side of the client and thinking that we’ve closed the deal because I, your partner (contractual partner), say, “Hey, this guy has stolen from us multiple times and on multiple accounts.”
‘We have police reports. The incident on Monday, I spent two hours on Monday night dealing with DoorDash, trying to write everything down, trying to get my money back.
‘At 6am the next day they call me and I’m on the phone for three hours.
‘For two hours they insisted that they would not pay me the money because that is what the client said.’
He continued: “I have surveillance footage. How can you not believe surveillance footage?”
A DoorDash spokesperson said: ‘At DoorDash, we do not tolerate fraud and will not allow anyone to attack or abuse merchants on our platform.
‘We have refunded the orders to the restaurant and will deactivate the customer accounts involved.
‘We are in contact with the restaurant owner to provide additional support and stand ready to assist police with any investigation into this incident.
‘It’s important to note that we have implemented robust anti-fraud measures and are always working to strengthen them to better protect merchants.’