Restaurant scam hits area

Restaurants in Dubois County are being hit by a scam that involves ordering large amounts of food for nonexistent events.

Becky Menke at Cool Beans Cafe in Huntingburg took a call recently that was routed through the state’s hearing and speech impaired telephone system called Relay Indiana. The system allows a hearing or speech impaired individual to call an 800 number and have an operator transcribe the call or speak to the recipient of the call for the impaired individual.

“An automated message stated I had a call that was being routed through Relay Indiana,” Menke said, “and asked if I was familiar. That began a 45 minute conversation about this order.”

The caller told Menke they wanted to order 115 sandwiches for a birthday party for their father.

“We were excited to get a call for 115 sandwiches,” Becky Menke, co-owner of Cool Beans explained. “But some things they said made me suspicious.”

The caller asked to purchase 150 cans of soda. “I thought, why would they pay our prices for that much soda?”

The caller told Menke to add a $200 tip to the bill and explained a carrier would be by to pick up the food. The person asked Menke to add the charge for the carrier to the bill.

“They said the carrier was charging them $900 to pick up the food.” Menke explained. “So I asked why are you paying so much to have food picked up? They said the carrier was also renting them tables and chairs for the event.”

The caller then asked Menke to charge the cost of the food and the carrier fee to a credit card and when the carrier arrives to pick up the food to pay the carrier the $900 for his services.

“Then I knew something was up. I was not going to pay their carrier any money from our restaurant.” Menke said.

The conversation continued until Menke asked for the credit card number at which point the caller simply stated, “Bye, bye.” and ended the call.

Menke says they have received several calls through the Relay system since this incident and they have tried to call back the numbers that appear on the caller id but have yet to reach anyone.

“Luckily I told Bob Ahlemeier (owner of Old School Cafe) about this scam. He hadn’t got a call yet, but soon after we told him about it, he got a call.” Menke said.

According to various industry sites this is a common scam.

The usual back story is the person is planning a catered event at their home in the coming two weeks, either for a funeral or birthday. The scammers run the check through a non-existent bank account and it can take up to three to four weeks before you receive the check back as no account on record.

A few days before the event the restaurant will receive a phone call back from the scammer through the operator service requesting cancellation of the large order and a refund. The scammer then asks the restaurant to refund to a different credit card number or send a check to their address, usually a P.O. Box. In both cases the scammer’s first credit card or check will clear initially but then be rejected later.