People who place DoorDash orders have trust in the drivers who handle their food or other items. Despite this, one driver has pleaded guilty to charges related to defrauding the company. Now, they are facing decades in prison and a hefty fine following their false reporting of accepting and completing orders.
It seems these DoorDash orders didn’t actually exist
According to AP News, Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a San Jose federal court. The guilty plea was for one count of the crime. The 30-year-old admitted to working with three other people to defraud the company between 2020 and 2021. They stole over $2.5 million for fraudulent DoorDash orders throughout the course of their crime.
So, how did the fraudulent DoorDash orders work? In a nutshell, Devagiri would place high-dollar orders through the app using various accounts. From there, they would log into the company’s software to reassign the orders to driver accounts that they controlled. After this, the four people listed the orders as delivered, despite this not being the case. Of course, the “drivers” would then be paid.
The scam involving the DoorDash orders didn’t end there. The group would then mark the “delivered” orders as “in progress,” allowing them to do the scam over again. Finally, the authorities caught on to what they were wrestling with, and the guilty plea came in November 2023. Now, he’s facing 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. They will return to court on September 16th for the next step in the sentencing process…