So, like, working as a DoorDash delivery driver doesn’t exactly scream “get rich quick scheme,” right? But get this: a dude from Newport Beach, California, and his buddies came up with this crazy plan to scam the company out of millions. I mean, who even thinks of this stuff?
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri, a 30-year-old DoorDash driver, pleaded guilty to helping steal over $2.5 million from the food delivery giant. Apparently, Devagiri and his crew, including three other peeps, teamed up with a former DoorDash employee to pull off this heist from November 2020 to February 2021. They basically created fake orders, messed with the company’s computer systems, and tricked DoorDash into paying for deliveries that never actually happened. Like, how did they even come up with this plan?
The whole scam involved making fake customer and driver accounts, charging big bucks to these fake customers, and then switching the orders to driver accounts they controlled. The fake drivers would mark the orders as delivered, get paid, and then change the status back to “in progress” to double-dip on payments. They did this whole song and dance hundreds of times for a bunch of orders. It’s like a real-life Ocean’s Eleven, but with food delivery instead of casinos. And get this, Devagiri could face up to 20 years in the slammer and a hefty fine. Wild, right?
