An Northern Ireland council is calling on Just Eat to “engage” with businesses that use its platform who fell foul to so-called “phishing” scams.
Councillors at Ards and North Down Borough Council are pressing the online food order and delivery platform Just Eat to “resolve” the situation with companies who lost money in scams which have affected dozens of takeaway businesses across NI.
Since December 2022 it is estimated that NI businesses have lost over £200,000.
By last month, 15 businesses here had reported their concerns to the platform.
Just Eat, which has Dutch ownership, says it has been unable to help all businesses involved because the food outlets have fallen victim to “phishing scams” – a type of online fraud where criminals trick people into sharing personal information, such as bank details, passwords, or credit card numbers.
The PSNI has said it is investigating reports of “mandate fraud”.
A spokesperson for JustEat said it disputed the total amount claimed to be lost by the businesses.
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Just Eat said in a statement: “We have conducted an extensive investigation and are confident in the rigour of our security systems.
“These scams are conducted by organised groups impersonating Just Eat, and there is no evidence to suggest there has been a breach of our systems.
“We take the safeguarding of restaurant information extremely seriously and have multiple forms of authentication to protect our partners.
“Like all responsible businesses, we would never request sensitive account or financial information over the phone and we regularly remind restaurants to remain vigilant about their account security at all times.”
At a recent Ards and North Down Council Committee meeting, a motion forwarded by UUP councillor Craig Blaney and seconded by party colleague Stephen Hollywood was accepted by the chamber.
It states: “The council notes with deep concern the fraudulent activity impacting local businesses through the manipulation of bank account information on Just Eat partner centre accounts, resulting in substantial financial losses.
“The council recognises the critical role these businesses play in supporting the local economy and acknowledges the severe impact these losses have on their ability to operate and resolves to write to Just Eat, expressing our deep concern over the financial harm caused to local businesses and calling on the company to urgently engage with affected businesses to resolve this devastating issue and prevent further incidents.”
At the November meeting of the council’s Place and Prosperity Committee, Mr Blaney told the chamber: “I have spoken at length with one business owner who has a small family-run restaurant, and this has cost him tens of thousands of pounds. For any business, these are significant amounts that have been lost.
“It is incumbent upon us as councillors to show our support to these local businesses. We have all been in circumstances where we have tried to get through a complaint, and sometimes when you are shouting at the big guy it is easy to be ignored. At those times you want support.”
He said: “That’s what I am asking for, that the council gets behind our small businesses affected by this, and writes on their behalf, to make it known we are on their side, and that we want (Just Eat) to do anything they can to resolve the issue.”
Councillors agreed for a report to come back from council officers outlining how they could support affected businesses.
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