A restaurant phone scam that has been making its way around the country over the past couple of years is making its way to restaurants through email.
Typically, the phone scammers will call a restaurant using the TTY (teletypewriter) relay service for those who are deaf, hard of hearing or unable to speak. The scammer will claim to have a hearing impairment in an attempt to explain the use of the TTY service and to build sympathy.
The scammer will then ask to place a large order for food, to be paid by credit card. For example, orders have included 150 chicken sandwiches, 250 Caesar salads, 250 pulled pork sandwiches, 200 fajitas, and more. The scammer will get a total price from the restaurant, sometimes up to thousands of dollars, then he will ask to have an extra charge added to the total in order to pay for delivery. He will then ask for the difference to be mailed or wired to him.
It may sound too good to be true for most restaurant operators, but tough economic times sometimes clouds judgment, and many have been taken in by this scam. The harsh reality becomes clear when the credit card used to pay for the order turns out to be stolen. One Boulder caterer lost over $4,700 in this scam.
The scam is working its way through email, now. Following is an example that we received recently:
“HELLO…..
MY NAME IS (removed) I WILL LIKE YOU TO KNOW THAT ITS BECAUSE OF MY HEARING IMPAIRED CONDITION LEAD ME HERE REGARDING MY EMAIL, I HAVE A BIRTHDAY COMING UP ON THE 10TH OF May 2011 AND I HAVE SOME IN-LAWS COMING,SO I WILL NEED SOME (Grilled chicken salad ) FOR ABOUT 120 GUESTS THAT ARE COMING SO CAN I GET THE PRICE PER PERSON AND THE TOTAL PRICE FOR THE PEOPLE TO FEED INDIVIDUAL BOXES NOW SO I CAN GIVE YOU THE CARD TO CHARGE THROUGH SO CAN YOU MAKE IT FOR ME ON THE THAT DATE AROUND 3PM THE ORDER WILL BE PICK UP BY MY PRIVATE SHIPPER AND I ALSO WANT YOU TO GET BACK TO ME WITH THE TYPE OF CREDIT CARD YOU DO ACCEPT AND I WILL ALSO LIKE YOU TO GET BACK TO ME WITH YOUR RESTAURANT ADDRESS AND ALSO YOUR DIRECT NUMBER AND ALSO YOUR RESTAURANT FAX NUMBER SO THAT I CAN BE ABLE TO FORWARD THAT TO THE SHIPPER OKAY BYE FOR NOW STAY BLESS.”
UPDATE
The following email was forwarded to us by a reader after this article was published. It’s a variation on the scam email above.
“Hello this is (name removed),i will like to know if u can be able to make for 250 peoples on the 10th of MAY and it will be pick up in your store by 3pm am going to make the payment with my credit card and the order is for my son wedding is coming up on the10th of MAY so i will like to order for Grilled Chicken and Chicken Salad for 250 guest or you can also get me your food meun,and it will be picked up by private shipper service between 3pm on 10th of MAY ,so i can give you my credit card to charge for the payment so let me have the price per person now and the total price altogether now and do u sure you can have it ready for pick up by 3pm and i will like to know if you have handle this type of large order before in your company i will look forward to hear back from you with your full name and store address and phone number and do you accpet all major of credit card for payment, i can be able to forward it to the shipper that will come for the pick up.”
Restaurant owners and operators are asked to be vigilant. Any unusually large orders via phone or email should only be finalized with the customer in person, after verifying their identity.