Food, Receipt and Restaurant

A warning for area restaurants in a WHAS 11 Investigation.

A con artist is caught on tape trying to obtain refunds for food he never purchased.

Last week, the man targeted three different locations of Qdoba in just two days,  getting money from two managers before finally being turned away.

He looks like a normal Qdoba customer.

But he doesn't want food.

He's after money.

And he's hoping the manager will give it to him after he tells a tall tale about his wife getting sick from food served supposedly served to her there.

“He said that she had gotten sick. thrown up all over the car and he was looking to get a refund,” said Bardstown Road Qdoba Manager Andrew Lonowski. “He didn't have a receipt, so I was trying to look up the order based on what he said he'd gotten.”

Lonowski was not able to find the order, because it didn't exist.

And there were other clues something was wrong.

“He acted like he was on a cell phone and you could tell there really wasn't anybody on the other line,” Lonowski said.

While he didn't get any money from the Bardstown Road location, his scam did work at the Qdoba on Hurstborne Lane, partially because employees say he became increasingly aggressive and threatening.

In that case, the manager was afraid she was about to be robbed since it was after closing time.

She gave the man money from her own purse.

Earlier that same day, an employee of the downtown Qdoba also handed over cash.

Kentucky Restaurant Association President Stacy Ruth says she's well aware of the scam

“It happens all the time. Most people in the public think that restaurants are rolling in dough, busy places,  easy to target,” Ruth said.

“They'll get real loud and obnoxious,” said Lonowski. “And a lot of times you want to do the quickest and easiest thing you can to cool that down. “

 

Police say they haven't received many reports about this suspect yet, but they believe that may be because the amount he gets is usually less than $40 and because most restaurants don't even realize they've been scammed.

If you know who the man in the video is, Qdoba wants to hear from you and is offering a reward.

Contact Kelly Paine at (502) 379-8541.