A bride on her honeymoon was devastated after scammers hacked her Just Eat account and ordered a takeaway while she was on her honeymoon.
Charlotte Meen, 27, was stunned to receive an email informing her that a £35 takeaway had been ordered to student accommodation in Nottingham through her Just Eat account, while she was in Corfu with new husband, Joshua.
After checking her bank account, she went into "panic mode" after seeing the order had gone through. While on the phone to her bank, Lloyds, the newlywed was horrified to receive two text messages alerting her that additional orders of £75 had been blocked.
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The bride received the email on the last night of their stay, just as they were getting ready for their final honeymoon dinner - and Charlotte says the incident ruined the last night.
The couple tied the knot on July 30th after delaying it twice due to Covid before jetting off abroad.
Speaking with the Mirror, Charlotte, from Basingstoke, said: "I tried to find a way of contacting Just Eat but couldn't find a number anywhere or their chat feature. So I rang my bank Lloyds and they advised that I really needed to speak to Just Eat first."
"After a while, I managed to find a way of getting a live chat opened and explained the situation and that I physically wasn't in the country and they told me nothing can be done, and to contact my bank."
From this point onwards, Charlotte says she was passed around "in circles" between Lloyds and Just Eat, in a "highly stressful" situation.
To add insult to injury, she was then sent an email from Just Eat after having spoken with them, asking her to review the stolen Taco Bell food.
She continued: "By this point, I was very upset and angry, I didn't want to spend the last night of our holiday trying to sort this and as this was happening I was having more texts from the bank saying payment declined.
"I felt neglected by Just Eat and they made everything so much more stressful."
Up until this point, she says the couple had been "having a great time" in Corfu, and this incident really put a "dampener" on the last day.
Charlotte said: "We were all inclusive but had booked to go out to a fancy restaurant to celebrate the last night. However, as it happened as we were getting ready, it then meant I was very angry and upset and spent half the evening on the phone with the bank.
"And so I wasn't in the mood to celebrate our honeymoon, [I] just wanted to go back to the home so I could get things sorted. I found Just Eat made the situation worse as they just didn't care and were not helping me."
While all this was going on, Joshua did a quick Google search and discovered a number of people had been affected by the exact same issue. As previously reported by the Mirror, back in May, Gmail and Outlook users were warned about a new scam from crooks pretending to be from Just Eat.
These fraudsters email customers with the promise of a free £50 gift voucher from a fake account designed to look official. However, Charlotte says she didn't click on any emails and has no idea whatsoever how they managed to con her.
After posting on the Just Eat Facebook page, Charlotte found others have posted similar complaints within the last week alone, and says she's since had multiple "unhelpful" conversations with Just Eat.
Charlotte added: "I've even offered to send proof I was abroad and told them to check my order history which will show that I've never ordered anything to Nottingham.
"I just feel so upset by the whole situation and feel like Just Eat is trying to wriggle out of it and make me feel like I'm lying. I've never ordered tacos, and wouldn't need them whilst on holiday and will never use their service again.
"They just don't care. Luckily, my bank Lloyds has helped me sort the situation however, I have been warned that Just Eat can still deny them reimbursing me so I now have to wait.
"Although it was only a small amount and I can afford to lose that money, the whole reason I am reporting this everywhere is because I want them to sort their security out as it may happen to someone less fortunate than me."
A Just Eat spokesman said: "Protecting our customers from online fraud is of utmost importance to us and we have multiple security measures in place to protect customer information.
"We do not store customer card details on our website or app and all payments are managed securely by an independent external payment service provider. Additionally, our systems screen customers’ login credentials against a list of breaches from all over the web, and we proactively alert customers should they need to change their password.
"We are currently conducting a thorough investigation of this issue to understand the cause and will communicate directly with the customer to resolve the matter.”
A Lloyds Bank spokesperson said: " We were sorry to hear Mrs Meen had been the victim of fraud. As the order was made through her Just Eat account, we asked her to contact the company to ensure that the circumstances could be fully investigated.
"Once that had happened, and she advised they hadn’t been able to return the money, we reclaimed the money through Visa chargeback and returned the £35.33 to her account.”
Have you found yourself the victim of a scam? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
