Published on •Updated
Polish authorities have launched mesaures to deal with malicious food-delivery pranks after persistent harassment and threats issued via bogus orders for meals to be paid for on delivery began to resurface.
Officers from the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC), under the supervision of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Szczecin, say they have detained a man suspected of organising the scheme.
The 23 year old suspect faces up to eight years in prison for stalking, identity fraud, and causing massive financial harm to local restaurants by ordering hundreds of unpaid meals (including 300 pizzas) to random, unsuspecting residents.
Authorities say the man has been remanded in custody for two months.
Threats issued in the orders
Some of the descriptions of the orders repeatedly included detailed information about the victims, which could only have been known to them or those closest to them according to local authorities.
These actions left them feeling threatened and tormented, and also constituted an intrusion into their privacy, CBZC said.
The orders themselves also contained threats, including references to abducting a minor, setting fire to a notary’s office and causing a road accident, the agency added.
Local media reports the man also used the personal details of well-known figures from politics and the media, listing them as the recipients of the meals. One of the orders was for an amount exceeding 37,000 zlotys, the equivalent of _€_8.572.
The deliveries were primarily meant to go to addresses in Szczecin, but orders were also placed to other cities, including Wrocław, Kraków and Warsaw, where more than a dozen such incidents were recorded.
However, the people indicated as recipients were not informed about the orders placed in their name.
Not all of the orders were fulfilled. In some cases, restaurants refused to accept them for technical reasons, especially where the number of meals ordered made efficient preparation impossible, as in the case of an order for 300 pizzas.
Joint operations by officers from the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime and the Investigative Department of the Municipal Police Headquarters in Szczecin led to the suspect being detained at his home.
During the search, police seized devices and data carriers that may have been used to place the fake orders.