A woman was left speechless after unknowingly ordering a Chuck E. Cheese cake through Uber Eats.
She revealed that she fell victim to a ghost kitchen scam after ordering a confetti cake from what she thought was a local bakery.
Ghost kitchens are commercial kitchens used by food delivery services, but customers and other TikTok users have said they've been “scammed” after ordering food from small establishments that turned out to be from major restaurant chains.
The Tennessee resident explained in a TikTok video that she “knew something was fishy” after noticing a Chuck E. Cheese sticker on the bag.
Her video has been viewed more than 263,000 times, and commenters have named other businesses that are allegedly running ghost kitchen scams.
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A ghost kitchen, also known as a dark kitchen, is a business where customers can only order online.
Orders are placed through the restaurant's website or, in the case of victims of ghost kitchen scams, through a third-party delivery app.
This scam itself is also known as ghost kitchen fraud.
One example is when a popular chain restaurant posed as a local restaurant, which also happened to TikTok users.
Ghost kitchen scams are on the rise, with several Las Vegas restaurants falling victim to identity theft on Uber Eats.
“Ghost kitchen scams in Las Vegas are out of control, masquerading as popular little places to scam both tourists and locals,” an X user tweeted last April.
“If they're not outright scammers trying to rip you off, they're big chain restaurants posing as local, family-run bistros and cafes as a way to avoid bad reviews and negative publicity.”
User X concluded his post by accusing Denny's, IHop, and Chili's of perpetrating this scam on DoorDash, GrubHub, Uber Eats, and other food delivery platforms.
In a video posted in February last year, TikTok user Raque spoke about ghost kitchens, which are commonly found on food delivery apps.
Two of the places she mentioned were Pasqually's Pizza & Wings and Cosmic Wings.
In fact, Chuck E. Cheese's created Pasqually's during the pandemic, and Applebee's launched Cosmic Wings in 2021.
“I think it's ethically wrong and morally ambiguous at best. If I knew it was Chuck E. Cheese's I wouldn't order from Pasqually's,” Raquet said.
She then told viewers that one tip customers can take to see if they're the victim of a ghost kitchen scam is to double-check the address.
TikTok users have been sharing their own ghost kitchen scam experiences since seeing the recent video.
One commenter recalled buying food for their parents from an Italian restaurant (which was actually Chili's).
“I saw the Mr Beast burger on Uber Eats before and knew it was a ghost kitchen. I searched the address and it was a bowling alley. This trick is awesome,” wrote one TikTok user.
Another user wrote: “So I always switch to takeout if I don't know the name of the restaurant and check the address first. If I don't know the address I assume it's a ghost kitchen and don't order from them.”
