Latest news with #SayeeChaitanyaReddyDevagiri
Time of India
17-05-2025
- Time of India
Indian-origin man in California pleads guilty to scamming DoorDash of $2.5M
An Indian-origin man scammed DoorDash by creating fake food orders. 30-year-old Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri , a Southern Californian man of Indian-origin, has pleaded guilty for conspiring to steal around $2.5 million from food delivery company DoorDash. Devagiri and three others were indicted by a federal jury in August and were arrested in October, Federal prosecutors said, earlier this week, that Devagiri has pleaded guilty. Devagiri faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to appear for a status hearing in the case on September 16. How did Devagiri scam DoorDash? Between 2020 and 2021, Devagiri and three others scammed the delivery company. Devagiri used to work as a DoorDash delivery driver. He devised this method, where he used customer accounts to place high-value orders on the app. Then he used an employee's credentials to access DoorDash software and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts that he and his co-conspirators controlled. Then, the fraudulent driver accounts that were in their control reported that the orders were delivered. In reality, those orders were not delivered because those orders were not even real. Then Devagiri used the software to pay the fraudulent drivers for those non-existent deliveries. Then Devagiri used the software to change the orders from "delivered" status to "in process". "This procedure usually took less than five minutes, and was repeated hundreds of times for many of the orders," the US Attorney's Office said in a statement. Co-defendant Manaswi Mandadapu pled guilty to the same charge on May 6. A third defendant, Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn of Solano County, pled guilty in 2023 after being separately charged in the case.
The Star
15-05-2025
- The Star
DoorDash delivery driver pleads guilty to stealing US$2.5mil in deliveries scam
Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, California, admitted to working with three others in 2020 and 2021 to defraud the San Francisco-based delivery company, federal prosecutors said. — AP SAN FRANCISCO: A former food delivery driver pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to steal more than US$2.5mil (RM10.72mil) from DoorDash by getting the company to pay for deliveries that never occurred, US federal prosecutors said. Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Jose to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the US Attorney's Office said. Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, California, admitted to working with three others in 2020 and 2021 to defraud the San Francisco-based delivery company, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Devagiri used customer accounts to place high-value orders and then used an employee's credential to gain access to DoorDash software and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts that he and others controlled. Devagiri then caused the fraudulent driver accounts to report that the orders had been delivered when they had not, and manipulated DoorDash's computer systems to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for the nonexistent deliveries, officials said. Devagiri would then use DoorDash software to change the orders from "delivered' status to "in process' status and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, beginning the process again, prosecutors said. The now-former employee in the scam pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in November 2023 and admitted to being involved in the scheme, prosecutors said. Devagiri is the third defendant to be convicted of his role in this conspiracy. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of US$250,000 (RM1.07mil). He is scheduled to return to court on Sept 16. – AP
14-05-2025
DoorDash delivery driver pleads guilty to stealing $2.5 million in deliveries scam
SAN FRANCISCO -- A former food delivery driver pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to steal more than $2.5 million from DoorDash by getting the company to pay for deliveries that never occurred, federal prosecutors said. Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Jose to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Devagiri, 30, of Newport Beach, California, admitted to working with three others in 2020 and 2021 to defraud the San Francisco-based delivery company, federal prosecutors said. Prosecutors said Devagiri used customer accounts to place high-value orders and then used an employee's credential to gain access to DoorDash software and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts that he and others controlled. Devagiri then caused the fraudulent driver accounts to report that the orders had been delivered when they had not, and manipulated DoorDash's computer systems to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for the nonexistent deliveries, officials said. Devagiri would then use DoorDash software to change the orders from 'delivered' status to 'in process' status and manually reassign the orders to driver accounts he and others controlled, beginning the process again, prosecutors said. The now-former employee in the scam pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in November 2023 and admitted to being involved in the scheme, prosecutors said. Devagiri is the third defendant to be convicted of his role in this conspiracy. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 16.
CBS News
14-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
California man pleads guilty to scamming DoorDash out of $2.5M
A Southern California man has pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme that stole more than $2 million from San Francisco-based food delivery company DoorDash, federal prosecutors said. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, 30-year-old Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri of Newport Beach in Orange County admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a San Jose court. Devagiri and three others were indicted by a federal grand jury in August and were arrested in October. Prosecutors said Devagiri, who was a DoorDash delivery driver, worked with others in the scheme in which the company paid for deliveries that never occurred. The scheme took place in 2020 and 2021. In the scheme, Devagiri used customer accounts to place high value orders on the app. He then used an employee's credentials to gain access to DoorDash software and manually reassigned orders to driver accounts he and others controlled. Devagiri then used fraudulent driver accounts to report the orders were actually delivered when they were not. He also manipulated the company's computer systems to pay the fraudulent driver accounts for non-existent deliveries. After that, Devagiri would use DoorDash software to change the orders from "delivered" status to "in process", manually reassigning the orders to drivers he and others controlled and restarting the process. "This procedure usually took less than five minutes, and was repeated hundreds of times for many of the orders," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. Prosecutors said the scheme led to more than $2.5 million in fraudulent payments. Two others connected to the scheme have already been convicted. Co-defendant Manaswi Mandadapu pled guilty to the same charge on May 6. A third defendant, Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn of Solano County, pled guilty in 2023 after being separately charged in the case. Devagiri faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to appear for a status hearing in the case on Sep. 16.
Los Angeles Times
14-05-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Newport Beach DoorDash driver helped cheat company out of $2.5 million using phantom deliveries
Working as a DoorDash delivery driver is not an obvious path to wealth. But a Southern California man and his co-conspirators devised an elaborate ruse — involving a boatload of fake orders and manipulation of the company's software — that netted them millions, prosecutors say. A Newport Beach man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring to steal more than $2.5 million from the San Francisco-based food delivery company, officials from the U.S. attorney's office announced. Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri, 30, admitted he worked with several others in a scheme to cause DoorDash to pay for deliveries that never occurred. Devagiri faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to appear in court for a status hearing Sept. 16. Devagiri, who was a DoorDash driver, and three others worked together from November 2020 to February 2021 and conspired with a former employee of the company to gain access to its computer systems, prosecutors say. The crew created fake customer and driver accounts. First, they would charge high-dollar orders to customer accounts, then — using the credentials of the employee they were working with — they would manually reassign orders to driver accounts that they controlled. The fake driver accounts would report the status of the fictitious orders as delivered, causing a payment to go through to those driver accounts. They would then further manipulate DoorDash's software to toggle the status of the fake orders from 'delivered' to 'in progress.' From there, they'd reassign the order to another driver account they controlled. This triggered multiple payments on an individual, nonexistent order. Officials said the process usually took less than five minutes, and was repeated hundreds of times for many of the orders. Devagiri was indicted alongside Manaswi Mandadapu, 29, Matheus Duarte, 29, and Hari Vamsi Anne, 30. Mandadapu pleaded guilty to the same charge as Devagiri on May 6. Anne and Duarte previously pleaded not guilty and are next set to appear in court July 22. The former employee in the scam, Tyler Thomas Bottenhorn, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in November 2023 and admitted to being involved in the scheme. It's unclear how the defendants knew one another, or how they connected with Bottenhorn. Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.
