A former DoorDash driver, Sayee Chaitainya Reddy Devagiri, recently pleaded guilty to a massive fraud scheme that cost the company over $2.5 million. The elaborate operation involved fake customer accounts, fabricated deliveries, and even the compromise of DoorDash employee credentials. This wasn’t a simple case of pocketing tips; it was a meticulously planned conspiracy involving several individuals.
The scheme unfolded over several months, beginning in November 2020 and continuing until February 2021. Devagiri and his accomplices would place expensive orders using fraudulent customer accounts on the DoorDash app. Then, using stolen employee credentials, they’d manually assign these orders to driver accounts they’d created themselves. The clever twist? They’d mark these undelivered orders as complete, triggering DoorDash’s payment system to release funds to their fake accounts. This process, according to the US Attorney’s Office, took less than five minutes and was repeated hundreds of times.
This wasn’t Devagiri’s operation alone. He was part of a larger group charged in August 2024. Another key player, DoorDash employee Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn, was charged separately in 2022 and pleaded guilty the following year for providing the necessary insider access. Devagiri now faces up to 20 years in prison and a hefty $250,000 fine, with a status hearing scheduled for September. The case highlights the vulnerabilities within gig-economy platforms and the lengths some individuals will go to exploit them.
This incident follows a pattern of similar scams targeting delivery and ride-sharing apps. The ease with which fake accounts can be created and the potential for insider collusion pose significant challenges to companies like DoorDash. The case serves as a stark reminder of the need for robust security measures and rigorous verification processes to protect both the companies and their customers from such sophisticated fraudulent activities. The ultimate outcome of this case will undoubtedly influence the security protocols implemented by DoorDash and similar services in the future.
