DoorDash delivery driver pleads guilty to stealing $2.5 million in deliveries scam

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — 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.