California DoorDash delivery driver pleads guilty to stealing $2.5 million in deliveries scam

Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 5:50 pm

DoorDash Driver Admits to $2.5 Million Delivery Scam in California

A former DoorDash delivery driver, Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a sophisticated scheme that defrauded the food delivery giant out of over $2.5 million. Federal prosecutors announced the guilty plea on Tuesday in a San Jose, California, court.

Devagiri, 30, from Newport Beach, California, admitted to conspiring with three other individuals between 2020 and 2021 to defraud DoorDash. The scheme involved manipulating the company's systems to generate payments for deliveries that never actually happened.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Devagiri and his accomplices used customer accounts to place high-value orders. They then exploited an employee's credentials to access DoorDash software and reassign these orders to driver accounts they controlled. The fraudulent driver accounts would falsely report the orders as delivered, triggering payments from DoorDash. Devagiri would then cycle the process, changing the order status back to "in process" and reassigning them to repeat the scam.

Devagiri is the third individual to be convicted in connection with this conspiracy. He now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for September 16, 2025.

BNN's Perspective: This case highlights the vulnerabilities that even large tech companies like DoorDash face in the face of determined fraud. While the scale of the theft is significant, the fact that the perpetrators were caught and are being held accountable is a positive sign. It also underscores the need for companies to constantly review and strengthen their security protocols to prevent similar schemes in the future.

Keywords: DoorDash, delivery driver, fraud, scam, guilty plea, wire fraud, conspiracy, San Francisco, California, Sayee Chaitanya Reddy Devagiri, stolen deliveries, federal prosecutors, sentencing, food delivery, Newport Beach, online fraud, delivery scam, DoorDash fraud

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