DoorDash Driver Orchestrates a $2.5 Million Fraudulent Operation

A former DoorDash courier has confessed to a fraudulent scheme, where he, alongside accomplices, duped the delivery company out of more than $2.5 million. Over several months, this group created fictitious customer profiles, fabricated delivery records, and leveraged employee login details to perpetrate their scam, as disclosed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Northern California.

Details of the Conspiracy

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Sayee Chaitainya Reddy Devagiri orchestrated a network of dishonest activities. Using a fraudulent customer profile within the DoorDash application, Devagiri placed high-value orders. Subsequently, exploiting DoorDash's employee access, he redirected these orders to driver accounts he and his conspirators controlled.

Devagiri would then falsely mark these undelivered orders as completed, prompting the system to release payments to these driver accounts. Once completed, these orders were reset to 'in process' mode, and the entire process was swiftly repeated. This cycle of deceit was executed hundreds of times, each session lasting less than five minutes.

Legal Consequences for the Perpetrators

Devagiri is staring at a potential two-decade prison sentence and a hefty fine of $250,000. He is expected to attend a court hearing this September. The fraudulent activities, targeting DoorDash, were carried out between November 2020 and February 2021, implicating four other individuals.

In a related charge, Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn, the DoorDash employee whose credentials facilitated this scam, faced separate legal actions in 2022. He admitted guilt to the charges the following year.