{"id":41534,"date":"2025-11-16T20:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T20:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/41534\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T20:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T20:15:08","slug":"fake-nyc-foodie-pei-chung-is-a-serial-dine-and-dasher-cops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/41534\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake NYC foodie Pei Chung is a serial dine-and-dasher: cops"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Prada-wearing dine-and-dasher with a penchant for Michelin-star restaurants <\/a>has been posing as an influencer to score freebie haute cuisine \u2014 while ripping off some of the city\u2019s top eateries, cops say.<\/p>\n

Pei Chung, 34, of Brooklyn \u2013 who flaunts Prada heels, Louis Vuitton handbags and Hermes belts all over Instagram \u2013 has been arrested five times since late October for indulging at local high-end restaurants such as Peter Luger and Francie in Williamsburg, stiffing staffers and then blogging about her stolen fare, police and law-enforcement sources told The Post.<\/a><\/p>\n

Chung allegedly poses as a food influencer \u2014 complete with a camera and lighting set-up \u2014 and posts dishes such as Colorado lamb from the Michelin-starred European brasserie Francie and marbled meat from the famed Peter Luger <\/a>to her 13,000 followers.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn woman Pei Chung has been allegedly posing as an influencer to rip off local restaurants. lu.pychung\/Instagram<\/p>\n

She once even allegedly offered up sex in lieu of cash at Peter Luger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s going into established restaurants dressed to the nines, racking up hundreds of dollars in food, defrauding them, then posting on Instagram like the restaurant hired her,\u201d said a source close to Williamsburg\u2019s new American restaurant Meadowsweet, which was allegedly one of Chung\u2019s victims, to The Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll her cards were declined,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team was confused \u2013 shocked. She was so self-assured and brazen about it,\u201d added the source, who saw Chung allegedly dine and dash and equated her behavior to the \u201cBling Ring,\u201d <\/a>an infamous group of fame-obsessed mainly teen robbers who targeted celebs\u2019 homes in California nearly two decades ago.<\/p>\n

The Brooklyn food fraudster \u2014 who lives in a luxury, waterfront high rise in Williamsburg \u2014 waltzed into Francie on Oct. 22, feasting on $15 foie gras, $32 carpaccio, $28 bucatini, $52 lamb, and $19 hot chocolate mousse, police and sources said.<\/p>\n

A photo of a meal posted by Chung online. lu.pychung\/Instagram<\/p>\n

Chung attempted to offer to post pictures of her meal in exchange for not paying at Francie on Oct. 22. lu.pychung\/Instagram<\/p>\n

She bartered instead of paying the $188 bill, according to the police report.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wanted to trade pictures and a blog post for the meal,\u201d said John Winterman, an owner at Francie, to The Post, claiming Chung came in like the restaurant had hired her as an influencer. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018That would be something we would have to agree upon before, and we haven\u2019t done that, so I need you to pay the check,\u2019 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chung has been arrested five times since October for the allged scams. lu.pychung\/Instagram<\/p>\n

When Chung\u2019s cards were declined, she said she was waiting for money from her family, Winterman said.<\/p>\n

He said she returned several times for more food but was refused service over her unsettled tab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chung then allegedly returned Friday, Nov. 7, just after 7:30 p.m. and ordered $83.83 worth of food and refused to pay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cops were called, and she was arrested and handcuffed at the bar on theft-of-services charges, authorities said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chung returned to Francie on Nov. 7 and refused to pay after ordering $88 worth of food. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice officers showed up. Two cars and four cops \u2013 they looked at her and said, \u2018Oh yeah. That\u2019s her. We know her,\u2019 \u201d Winterman said. \u201cI had a full bar, people standing around having drinks. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe police went to the bar, read her her rights, handcuffed her at the bar and escorted her out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The co-owner said Chung\u2019s alleged crime played out in front of Francie\u2019s well-heeled customers, who could stand the heat in the kitchen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the most New York moment ever,\u201d Winterman said of the nonplussed diners, who appeared more worried about their $148 dry-aged duck getting cold than the accused foodie scofflaw\u2019s antics.<\/p>\n

Chung was arrested at the bar of Francie for refusing to pay on Nov. 7. lu.pychung\/Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a couple of comments \u2013 no one took a picture,\u201d he said. \u201cThey just started eating and drinking again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just a day earlier, Chung had slipped into the nearby Lavender Lake restaurant on Broadway in Williamsburg \u2014 where cocktails start at $16 \u2014 and allegedly\u00a0racked up a $97 bill and left without paying.<\/p>\n

Chung also visited Peter Luger on Oct. 27 around 6:45 p.m. and worked up a $146 tab she refused to pay, police said.<\/p>\n

Chung posted a rave review of Peter Luger steakhouse \u2014 despite getting arrested for not paying. stefano giovannini<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Nov. 11, she then visited Motorino Pizza<\/a> at 139 Broadway and refused to pay her $135 bill, police said.<\/p>\n

She was arrested and charged with alleged theft of services that same day.<\/p>\n

But the accused thief paints a wholly different story on her blog.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach slice reveals a deep rose center under a caramelized crust \u2014 a balance of char and tenderness perfected over decades,\u201d Chung raved in a post about her Peter Luger steak, <\/a>adding, \u201cThe fat melts like silk, carrying the essence of oak and iron from the grill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chung allegedly tried to trade sexual favors for a meal at Peter Luger. lu.pychung\/Instagram<\/p>\n

A day later, she was arrested and charged for the alleged theft of services and issued a desk-appearance ticket that orders her to appear in court.<\/p>\n

A manager at the steakhouse told The Post that Chung went missing for \u201c45 minutes\u201d around bill time. They found her hiding in the restroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was in the bathroom. When she comes out to pay the check, she asked the waiter if he\u2019d like to take care of her check and she\u2019d pay him back in a different way and not cash,\u201d said Jeckson Leonardo, a manager at\u00a0Peter Luger to The Post, alleging Chung tried to pay for her steak for one in sexual favors.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018Is there anything else I can do for you because I don\u2019t want to pay this check,\u201d Leonardo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe told her we\u2019re going to call the police,\u201d the manager said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer hands were so tiny the cop had to put their fingers inside the handcuffs to escort her out,\u201d Leonardo said.<\/p>\n

Chung did not respond to Post requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Prada-wearing dine-and-dasher with a penchant for Michelin-star restaurants has been posing as an influencer to score freebie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[98,303,68,396,9,56,63,65,64,11652,821,797,58,1424],"class_list":{"0":"post-41534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-exclusive","11":"tag-fraud","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-peter-luger","18":"tag-restaurants","19":"tag-theft","20":"tag-us-news","21":"tag-williamsburg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}