Northeast Fresno business victim to online ordering scam

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It was business as usual for the crew at The Curry Pizza Company in Northeast Fresno on Sunday.

The owner, Virender Malhi, said about a week ago he noticed multiple fraud charges for transactions at his Willow and Nees location.

"Basically, it's like a credit card scam," said Malhi.

Malhi said regular customers told him they were getting access to discounts on Instagram, while using the telegram app.

He was shocked to discover his pizzeria was one of the businesses listed for these unauthorized discounts.

"You send them a ticket, whatever you're ordering, let's say the ticket is $200 or $100, they give you 50% to 70% off of the ticket," said Malhi.

Malhi said once you're signed into the telegram app, you can become part of groups.

Malhi has gone through the process of using the app to understand how his small business is coming up short changed.

"They take their money on cashapp. They use a stolen or a fake credit card and place an order. And then we get charged back on it and it's a stolen credit card and so they take the money out of our account so basically, we lose a whole amount, whatever the food order," said Malhi.

Malhi said he's lost at least $2,000, and he expects to lose more since discovering the scam.

"We are like very thin on the margins, especially losing the amount of money, that put us in the negative, with labor going up," said Malhi.

Malhi said they have a new security system and procedures in place to protect them from these scam attacks moving forward.

Malhi encourages everyone to be cautious when you're making online purchase. He said you never know what scammers are doing with your personal information.