Two Broward Men Face Charges In UberEats Scam

If you or I were to try to scam UberEats, we would probably claim that we never received our food, so that UberEats would send us a replacement meal and not make us pay for it, or else it would give us a refund, so we could get our next delivery meal free.  If you did that, you might get a few free burgers or tacos before UberEats caught on, but you probably would not get criminal charges for an organized scheme to defraud.  Likewise, it would probably be your word against that of the restaurant employees who prepared your order and the driver who delivered it as to whether your food ever reached its destination.  What two Broward County men are accused of doing is much more complex, and the investigation into their alleged fraudulent dealings began not with UberEats but with another company.  If you are being accused of defrauding a business, contact a West Palm Beach white collar crime lawyer.

Palm Beach Gardens Police Arrest Man Who Allegedly Visited 27 Walgreens in One Day at the Expense of UberEats

One day in January 2022, Trayon Morgan and Roy Blackwood went shopping at Walgreens.  Then they got back into Blackwood’s car and went to a different Walgreens.  This went on until, by the end of the day, they had visited 27 Walgreens stores in Broward and Palm Beach Counties and spent more than $5,000.  An employee of one of the Walgreens stores notified the police about the men, who exclusively paid for their purchases with gift cards, and by examining security camera footage, police were able to reconstruct Morgan and Blackwood’s itinerary.

As for where they got all those Walgreens gift cards, Morgan worked as an UberEats driver.  Using one account, he would act as a customer and place a large order for food, and using another account, he would accept the order.  Shortly thereafter, the customer account would cancel the order, and UberEats would credit the money back to Morgan’s Uber credit card, which he would use to purchase gift cards.  Morgan allegedly created multiple fake profiles on the UberEats app, some of them including Morgan’s own photo plus the names of other people who worked as UberEats drivers.

By August, when police issued arrest warrants for them, Morgan and Blackwood had allegedly used this method to make more than $1 million in purchases using gift cards obtained through UberEats.  Morgan, 21, and Blackwood, 37, were arrested later in August in Tamarac and Palm Beach Gardens, respectively.  Both of them are facing charges for organized schemes to defraud and for grand theft.  News reports did not indicate whether Morgan and Blackwood have hired lawyers or whether either defendant has entered a plea.

Contact a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Lawyer Today

Attorney William Wallshein has more than 38 years of experience, including five years as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County.  Contact William Wallshein P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

cbsnews.com/miami/news/bso-2-men-scammed-ubereats-out-of-more-than-1-million/?intcid=CNR-01-0623