A Sheboygan DoorDash driver is speaking out after a scammer posing as a company representative tried to steal his personal and financial information — and police say others need to know the warning signs.
Watch the full broadcast here:
Ben Taylor has been DoorDashing for about a year. He said he was recently targeted by a scammer for the first time.
"My orders were getting cancelled so it seemed legitimate that a DoorDash operator was in contact with me and wanted me to stop driving to verify myself," Taylor said.
The caller claimed to be a DoorDash representative. At first, the questions were work-related — but they quickly became more personal. The scammer even knew the exact amount of money in Taylor's account and had his card information.
"They were asking a bunch of my personal information trying to figure out if I was the actual DoorDasher or not holding the account," Taylor said.
That's when Taylor grew suspicious and locked his card. The scammer then asked him to send money through Venmo.
"I knew that something was up," Taylor said.
DoorDash provided this statement on the matter:
"DoorDash will NEVER contact you to ask for your password, verification codes or sensitive information ... over phone, text or email ... If someone does or you think it's suspicious, hang up and report it."
Taylor spotted the warning signs and walked away without losing anything — but not everyone is so fortunate.
Manitowoc Police Sergeant Paul Krock said there are clear patterns to watch for.
"They call unsolicited to tell you that there is a problem... and they'll operate with a sense of urgency," Krock said.
He advises people to look up a company's phone number independently and verify whether a problem actually exists before providing any information.
"They pretend to be from a company they are not affiliated with or a government agency and that is against state statute," Krock said. "We do recommend that you make a police report."
The Manitowoc Police Department encourages people to learn about scam prevention, noting it is much easier to prevent a scam than to repair the damage after one occurs.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
