Residents of the LA neighborhood receive mysterious paid food deliveries

Business

By Andrew Miller, Fox Business

March 19, 2023 | 4:45

Residents of a Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood have been baffled by a series of paid food deliveries showing up on their doorsteps even though they haven’t been ordered.

Los Angeles Times reported this week that residents along Range View Avenue in the Highland Park neighborhood have received deliveries of chicken sandwiches, milkshakes, cakes, coffee and other items they never ordered from food delivery services like Uber Eats.

The unwanted deliveries began in February, and a handful of people told the Times they sometimes received several orders a day. It is not clear if the orders are a scam or prank of some kind.

Residents say delivery drivers have not been able to provide much information about who is placing the orders, either because they don’t know or because the deliveries are using other people’s names.

“The drivers always laugh at the situation,” said Range View resident Will Neal, a documentary filmmaker.

“It’s kind of remarkable what they’re able to do with a pancake sandwich,” Neal added in a joking reference to the four unwanted McDonald’s McGriddles he received at his home on Feb. 25 — the first of 40 mystery deliveries to his home.

Some residents have eaten the food, some have thrown it away and others have donated it to local charities.

“I don’t trust it — I throw it out,” Dean Sao, a carpenter at nearby Pasadena City College, told the outlet. “I don’t know who does it. We joked at first: It must be Elon Musk – I don’t know who else could afford it.”

Morgan Currier, who received 30 deliveries, told the outlet she had the delivery driver call the number associated with the order and it had been disconnected.

An Uber spokesperson told Fox Business that the company has launched an investigation into the source of the orders and has “taken action” against a number of accounts.

The spokesman added that the company is monitoring orders sent to that part of Highland Park.