The complexities of food delivery do not stop at making sure the address and order are put into a customer’s app of choice—even for food delivery services, there is a certain level of cybersecurity awareness required to avoid being taken advantage of by scammers.
One DoorDash delivery runner is highlighting a need for awareness around the real reason behind orders for single salt packets and cookies: Scammers who have gained access to a DoorDash customer’s account are also working to take advantage of DoorDash drivers in order to steal their hard-won earnings.
In a video posted to TikTok, user Brittany (@brittanylovesstorm) says she fell victim to such a scheme.
“I got an order for McDonald’s and it was just a single cookie,” she says in the video. “I thought that was just all so funny and they packed the cookie—they put like 10 bags in it—like, oh, so funny.”
She says that at this point, she got a call from the customer telling her they’re not at the intended address and that they need to cancel the order.
“I’m like, ‘OK,’ and then I hang up and I get another call and it’s from ‘DoorDash Support,’ saying, ‘We see you had to cancel an order. In order to get paid, you need to do blah, blah, blah,” she recalls.
The “DoorDash Support” were actually scammers who eventually got her to share a code sent to her account, which she says she now recognizes she should not have done, as it allowed them access to any earnings she had stored there.
“I tell them the code, and I shouldn’t have done that, it said ‘don’t ever share this code with anyone.’ The person hung up immediately,” Brittany recounts. “I’m locked out of my DoorDash account. It’s a scam. These people order the cheapest thing on the menu so they can access the DoorDash driver account to take the money that’s linked with the account.”
However, she says her earnings were stored on a card account rather than in the app, so they were not able to take her funds.
“Luckily, I have that DoorDash card and my money goes straight to that, so they weren’t able to take all my money, but that’s why people do this,” she says. “They’re not actually just ordering salt—I’ve seen so many different versions of this—or a sweet and sour packet, whatever. It’s kinda crazy that these fast-food restaurants haven’t [caught] on yet.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @brittanylovesstorm via comment on the video, as well as to DoorDash via email regarding the video.
Several viewers strongly advised against sharing any codes or information with strange callers or even customers, as it is likely to be a scam.
@brittanylovesstorm #stitch with @paige ♬ original sound – Brittany
“Never share your phone number… communicate only thru the app,” one commenter said. “I had it happen before. I don’t call any customers anymore.”
“Whenever ‘support’ calls, my husband says ‘im driving let me call you back,’” another wrote. “Then call them thru the app. never give someone unknown any info.”
“The text literally says dont share the code lmao,” one said.
Others shared that they had actually placed orders similar to the one described by the poster, both on purpose and on accident, and were not scamming anyone.
“I accidentally ordered just cheese from doordash,” a viewer wrote. “I tried to order a cheeseburger with only cheese and I put no meat and no bun. I was so sad.”
“This makes me remember the time I orderd a single cookie to see if my acc was unbanned now I feel bad cause did the dasher think I was trynna do this,” another commenter wrote.
“Okay but fr, i once ordered only sauce bc they forgot my sauce and my car battery was dead so i couldn’t go pick it up,” a commenter wrote.
