As the popularity of food delivery apps is increasing with each passing day so is the revenue, as a consequence, these apps have been on the hit list of scammers. Sift, a US-based digital trust and safety firm has stated that it has spotted a fraud scheme where scammers leverage the chatting app Telegram to steal from restaurants and food delivery apps.
Sift’s Digital Trust and Safety experts discovered that threat actors are promoting their services on Telegram forums to buy food and beverage orders at steep discounts, using stolen payment information on behalf of clients.
The methodology used by fraudsters
Professional scammers advertise in Telegram forums, such as ‘Fraud Market’ that they can illicitly buy food and beverage orders at a steep discount, typically 60-75% off. Diners who are tempted to take advantage of this offer direct-message the scammers along with a screenshot of their food app shopping cart and their delivery address to place the order.
The scammer accepts the order and the diner pays the scammer using cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or Ethereum via PayPal, Venmo, or Cash App and the scammer covers the whole cost via a new account, stolen credit card information, or a hacked account.
Brittany Allen, trust and safety architect at Sift explained that “the Dark Web can be difficult to access and with frequent marketplace shutdowns by law enforcement, bad actors are looking for new places to commit a crime. End-to-end encrypted messaging platforms like Telegram are attractive options as they are more accessible and it is easier to go undetected when committing low-level fraud.”
Sift experts disclosed that from the third quarter to the fourth quarter of 2020 there was a 14% increment in payment scams targeting restaurants and food delivery apps. This is not the first scheme that Sift experts have uncovered to exploit the restaurants and food delivery services.
