Posted on 06/02/2021 6:20:11 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Regina woman says her bank account was drained after what seemed like an ordinary pizza delivery.
Tara Miller ordered pizza from a Regina restaurant at around 2:30 p.m. CST Saturday. About half an hour later, she received her pizza and everything else she ordered alongside it.
She said everything about the interaction was pretty straightforward. She tipped the affable delivery man $5. She said she has had many experiences with the same restaurant in the past and nothing had ever gone awry.
It wasn't until a few hours later when she checked her bank account that she noticed something horribly wrong.
"Everything was gone."
She said $1,500 had been taken from her bank account.
She went to the restaurant to bring up the issue and said the employees told her that her order wasn't for delivery, it was for pick-up.
Miller maintained that it was in fact for delivery and mentioned that she had company over at her home can attest to that fact.
Miller said she was then told that an unfamiliar man had entered the restaurant and picked up the order on her behalf, saying that he was unsure who originally made the order.
"How could you let someone take a pizza out of the store, without even calling or confirming it with me?" she said.
Miller said she had a lot of things running through her mind.
"Was it the guy that took my call, did he set this all up?"
Sask. RCMP seek suspects in romance scam that stole more than $360K combined from 7 women Sask. Government warns of increase in cryptocurrency investment scams Miller has since cancelled her bank account and continues to try to sort the issue out with the restaurant for the time being. She has also filed a police report.
She said the manager of the restaurant has personally apologized to her and handed video surveillance footage from the restaurant over to the police in hopes of identifying the man who handled her pizza.
Although she was initially furious, she said this has not dimmed her view of the restaurant, as it has always dealt with her fairly in the past.
"You read about stuff like this all the time," Miller said. "It's not just their restaurant, it's other restaurants as well too."
She said this incident will make her take greater precautions in the future to avoid being in a situation like this again. She said she worries that something bad will happen every time she uses her bank card now.
Miller also urged restaurants to perform due diligence when confirming pick-up orders.
She also warns others to be on the lookout for potential scams, despite how savvy they may think they are.
I just give $8 to the girl at the pizza place
“A rogue employee?”
The OP really read the article!
I don’t do delivery.
It’s faster and fresher to just drive to the restaurant and get it myself.
I guess it’s too much work for the author to describe the scam. Just how did he scammer drain $1,500 from her account? How does a $5 figure into it?
Why can’t American journalists write this way? “Affable.” “Awry.“ Who, what, where, when, why. ...
I never, ever do delivery. The food is in the vehicle anyway, so it might as well be in mine.
Maybe they don’t want to give people ideas.
My guess is a fake website with the company name and logo. She entered her info and they then ordered from the restaurant. My guess is they figured they would get a head start on her figuring out something was wrong if she got her food.
Don’t use a debit card tied to your checking or savings account for online purchases.
Get a credit card or charge card for all online or over the phone orders.
You can always get a charge reversed on a credit card - you’re SOL if they drain your bank accounts.
The restaurant is liable for letting a food order out the door without payment. She should consult an attorney.
Furthermore, what pizza company - or any restaurant for that matter - takes card payments at the door??? Payment is tendered at the time of ordering, though I’m sure cash payments are still accepted at the door for some local places.
They basically set up shop in town and keep interviewing people until the suspect list is narrowed down to a handful, then they move in for the kill.
I am guessing that she wrote a check and the “delivery” guy made an ACH withdrawal from her account.
I can think of nothing else that might have heppened.
That’s why I don’t do debit cards. (Sorry Dave Ramsey) I don’t do online banking either. Scammers galore out there and unscrupulous thieves.
I drive for Doordash and love it. But I would never subscribe to it, myself. No way I would pay that kind of money when I can jump in the car and get it myself. I swear to you that I delivered a hamburger and fries to an apartment building that was a one minute walk from the restaurant. Gotta marvel.
The family drove to Alaska when I was ten(1971). We stopped at campgrounds, and did the tent thing. One night, in northern BC, I believe, our campsite was robbed. We called the police, and holy crap, the Mounties show up. They made quite an impression. All we could do was follow a trail of discarded items up to a squalid Indian section of the town. Seriously impoverished, little kids looking out windows at the goings-on, probably like they did most days.
> I guess it’s too much work for the author to describe the scam. <
I’m scratching my head over this too. My best guess is that the customer paid with a debit card, and not cash or a credit card.
In my opinion, the negatives of having a debit card for out-way the positives. But my bank forces one on me if I want free checking. So I set its limit at $1. And I never use it for purchases. (What can you buy for buck these days, anyway?)
Our ATM Card is a dual-duty Debit Card. I HATE having anything with direct access to our checking account. We keep a minimal balance in that account to reduce our exposure risk.
I use an Amex charge card. You have to pay an annual fee but there’s usually enough perks/discounts to cover that cost - interest free usage and you gain points for each dollar you spend.
I’ve even gotten mature enough that I have an online bank account (with a good interest rate) and a regular bank which receives my direct deposits. The online banks are great - BUT - you can’t get cash into them easily. So I keep a local bank as my “feeder” and then do electronic transfers monthly to the online account and pay bills out of that. (It also provided a small amount of comfort this past year when I thought some banks might collapse and I’d at least have some cash in one or the other)
I'm not sure what setting a limit is supposed to do. Mine is set at $250. Ended up charging $600+ on hotel at CPAC. Charge went through and bank sent me an email to let me know I charged over my limit. Duh.
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