Oakland restaurant says their DoorDash account was hacked
An Oakland restaurant owner says he lost up to $40,000 after someone hacked into his Door Dash Merchant account last year and was diverting payments to a different bank account. More than one year later, he says he is still trying to recover the full payments from DoorDash, after he says he alerted them to stop the payment. Door Dash replied saying they want to work with him, but “it was not a breach or failure of DoorDash’s systems.”
OAKLAND, Calif. – An Oakland restaurant owner says he has been fighting for more than a year to recover tens of thousands of dollars in missing payments from DoorDash.
Missing payments discovered
What they’re saying:
Pradip Raj Gotame, owner of Annapurna Restaurant and Bar, said he first noticed missing payments on June 13, 2023, for orders filled through his DoorDash account.
“I found out that there was a payment missing for first week, so I immediately called DoorDash and sent them an email saying the payment is missing,” Gotame said. “They told me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.'”
Gotame said a DoorDash representative told him the company would investigate. But more than a year later, he says he’s still trying to recover what he estimates to be between $30,000 and $40,000.
Account information changed
Dig deeper:
Gotame said DoorDash later informed him that his account information had been altered, including his bank account number and email address, preventing him from accessing his account.
He said multiple customer service representatives asked him to send identification and documents to prove he was the rightful account owner.
Gotame said he requested DoorDash suspend payments to the fraudulent account while the company investigated. He and his staff, he added, never received any phishing calls or emails.
Partial reimbursement issued
According to Gotame, DoorDash eventually told him the funds had already been transferred to an unauthorized bank account. One email stated, “The funds transferred to the unauthorized bank has been completed,” and DoorDash determined he would receive only about $5,300 in reimbursement.
A later email informed him of an additional missed payment, and he eventually received a second reimbursement.
“Finally, after two months, the guy was able to reimburse $9,000,” Gotame said. “I told him that is not enough. Our funds were close to $40,000. That’s your mistake.”
Financial strain on the small business
Gotame said the loss has deeply affected his business finances.
“We lost so much money to the credit card, and we are behind on the employees’ salary,” he said.
He said he has had to rely on credit cards to pay bills and keep up with payroll.
DoorDash responds
The other side:
In a statement to KTVU, a DoorDash representative said the incident appeared to be the work of a scammer targeting the merchant, not a system failure on DoorDash’s part.
“This case, which occurred more than a year ago, appears to have been the work of a fraudster targeting the merchant — not a breach or failure of DoorDash’s systems,” the company said. “Once we were alerted, our teams acted to secure the account, verify the rightful owner, and block the fraudulent user(s). We are continuing to review the merchant’s concerns to ensure every aspect of this case has been thoroughly examined and that no outstanding issues remain.”
The company added that it understands “this has been a difficult and frustrating experience” and said it remains committed to supporting its business partners.
Other merchants report similar scams
Big picture view:
Annapurna Restaurant is not alone. The owners of Paradiso in San Leandro said they experienced a similar issue, and restaurants in Maryland and Florida have also reported cases in which DoorDash payments were diverted to unauthorized accounts.
Gotame said he wants to know what DoorDash is doing to find the scammer.
“They have all the proof,” he said. “They have all the ingredients — to whom they released [the money]? How much sales there were?”
He advises other DoorDash merchants to monitor their accounts regularly and said he has reported the incident to Oakland police.
If you believe you have been a victim of a DoorDash account takeover or hacking attack, contact jana.katsuyama@fox.com.