Uber Eats customer's warning as she falls victim to 'ghost kitchen' (2024)

A womanwas left speechless after she unknowingly ordered a slice of cake from a Chuck E Cheese on Uber Eats.

She revealed she fell for a ghost kitchen scam after allegedly ordering confetti cake from what she thought was a local place that specialized in baked goods.

Ghost kitchens are commercial kitchens used for food delivery services, but the customer and other TikTok users claimed they were 'scammed' after they ordered food from small businesses that turned out to be large restaurant chains.

The Tennessee resident explained in her TikTok video that she 'noticed something suspicious' after she spotted a Chuck E Cheese sticker on the bag.

Her video has reached over 263,000 views, and commenters named other businesses that allegedly perform ghost kitchen 'scams.'

Ghost kitchens are also known as dark kitchens - businesses where customers can place orders with them only online.

The order would be placed on the restaurant's website or, like the ghost kitchen scam victim, on a third-party delivery app.

The scam itself is also referred to as deception through ghost kitchens.

An example of this would be a popular chain restaurant pretending to be a local shop, which happened to TikToker.

The ghost kitchen scam has been growing, resulting in several Las Vegas restaurants being victims of identity theft on Uber Eats.

'The ghost kitchen scam in Las Vegas is out of control with popular small businesses being impersonated in the hope of tricking both tourists and locals,' an X user tweeted last April.

'If it isn't an outright scammer trying to hustle visitors, mega-chain restaurants are pretending to be locally owned mom & pop bistros and cafes as a way to circumvent their terrible reviews and poor reputations.'

The X user concluded her post by accusing Denny's, IHop, and Chili's of committing this scam on DoorDash, GrubHub, Uber Eats, and other food delivery platforms.

A TikTok user known as Ms. Raque mentioned some of the common ghost kitchens that appear on food delivery apps in a video she posted last February.

Two of the places she brought up were Pasqually's Pizza & Wings and Cosmic Wings.

In reality, Chuck E Cheese created Pasqually's during the pandemic, and Applebee's launched Cosmic Wings in 2021.

'I think it's ethically wrong and at best, morally ambiguous. I would not order from Pasqually's if I knew that it was Chuck E Cheese' said Ms. Raque.

She then gave viewers a tip on how customers can look to see if they're victims of the ghost kitchen scam - double-check the address.

TikTok users have shared their own ghost kitchen scam stories since watching the recent video.

One commenter recalled a time when they purchased their parents food from an Italian restaurant, which, in reality, was a Chili's.

'I saw Mr. Beast Burger on Uber Eats before, and I knew it was a ghost kitchen. I searched for the address, and it was from a bowling alley. The trickery is crazy,' a TikToker wrote.

Another user wrote: 'That's why I always switch to pick up to see the address first for restaurants I don't recognize the name of, and if I can't, I assume it's a ghost kitchen and won't order it.'

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