Man scams delivery app, gets free food for two years

A 38-year-old man in Japan has been arrested for pulling off what might be the country’s most audacious food delivery scam — eating for free over a thousand times by pretending his meals never arrived.

Police in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, say Takuya Higashimoto ordered from a major delivery app 1,095 times, consuming everything from bento boxes to chicken steaks, and walking away without paying a single yen. The total damage: More than 3.7 million yen (US$24,000).

His trick was simple: Choose contactless delivery, then message the platform claiming his food never showed up — and boom, a refund.

On July 30, Higashimoto allegedly created yet another fake account on the app Demae-can, ordering ice cream, bentos, and steaks to a made-up address. Despite receiving the food, he still messaged support to say it hadn’t arrived — and snagged a 16,000 yen (US$105) refund that same day.

Investigators say the unemployed man had been running the scam since April 2023, juggling 124 fake accounts registered under false names and prepaid mobile numbers. Each time, he’d cancel the account after a few days — a pattern that made him almost impossible to trace.

When finally caught, Higashimoto confessed, according to South Morning China Post, “At first, I just tried this trick. I couldn’t stop after reaping the rewards of my fraud.”

The delivery app Demae-can has since promised to tighten identity checks and roll out alerts for suspicious refund patterns.

Online, people were equal parts stunned and impressed. One commenter said, “He’s quite clever — opening 124 accounts takes dedication.” Another quipped, “Maybe the app’s refund policy needs a reality check too.”