Dozens of restaurants in Southeast Brabant were approached by a scammer during the night from Thursday to Friday. In this email, sent by a certain Michael, he claims to have become ill after a dinner and asks for the amount paid to be refunded to his account number.
In the message he writes that he and his girlfriend had dinner at the restaurant in question on April 25, after which he allegedly became ill.
‘Unfortunately, shortly afterwards I suffered from stomach and intestinal complaints, such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. I was down for two days because of this and was quite ill. Probably caused by the food we ate with you’, is his standard text.
After his introduction, a list of supposedly ordered dishes and the corresponding amount follows, with the request to reimburse this.
“The dishes and the amounts were adapted to the menu of each restaurant. He still took that effort.”
Restaurant Grotel’s Enjoy in Bakel also received such an email. Owner Mark Jongeling was initially shocked. “We always take complaints seriously, so I immediately started checking,” he says.
He soon discovered that the said dish had not been ordered at all on the date in question. “I thought that was very strange.”
Jongeling decided to inquire in a WhatsApp group with other catering entrepreneurs. It turned out that several restaurants had received exactly the same email. “The only thing that differed were the dishes and amounts. They were adapted to the menu of each restaurant. He still took that effort. But according to the email he had eaten everywhere on the same day, but that is of course not possible.”
Ruud Bakker, chairman of Koninklijk Horeca Nederland in Eindhoven, also received the email. He is the owner of Grill & Bar Dommel18, among others. Alarm bells immediately went off for him.
“We asked for a photo of the receipt. Of course I did not receive a response.”
“This man was not in our reservation system and the dish he mentioned was sold hundreds of times that weekend. We have not had any other complaints,” Bakker explains. He then decided to inquire at other restaurants on his street. They also appeared to have received the email.
“I then wrote back to Michael that we found it annoying and that we hope he is doing well. We then asked for a photo of the receipt so that we could investigate. Of course I did not receive a response.”
According to Bakker, this looks like a new scam for restaurants. “This appears to be a standard message that was probably written with the help of AI and then sent to restaurants on a large scale, to then see what will be included in the bill,” says Bakker.
According to him, catering entrepreneurs must therefore carefully check whether the complaint is really correct. “Or check with a fellow catering entrepreneur to see if they have also had something.”
