Popular LA Restaurant Closes After High-Tech 'Dine and Dash' Scheme

quonset writes: "The Korean Fusion Cafe 'Spoon by H' had the ingredients to become an L.A. success story but is the epitome of a small business, with owner and chef Yoonjin Hwang working 15-hour days to run the restaurant with her mother and brother," reports CBS News. "'We have no staff. We have no cooks. I have to do everything by myself,' said Hwang. 'Like so many other small businesses we were hit hard by the pandemic. All we could do was just like take it day by day and do whatever we could to stay afloat.'" One day she received an order for $700. The person came in and picked up the order. A week later the same person disputed the charge. Hwang had to pay back the money, and this same situation kept occurring time and again. Hwang was the victim of "friendly fraud" or "chargebacks." "In the scam, a customer orders food, often through a delivery service, then receives their meal, but disputes the charge with their credit card company to get a refund," reports CBS News. "According to the Los Angeles Times, a growing number of the city's restaurants have struggled as scammers take advantage of internet ordering to use fraudulent credit cards or request refunds, claiming they never received part or all of an order." "I just felt so incredibly helpless and frustrated. We just couldn't keep running our business like this," Hwang said. As a result, she decided to close the restaurant for good. Patrons helped raise more than $60,000 on a GoFundMe page, which Hwang plans to use to pay off her debt. She says she may consider opening a new business someday with the earnings, but she doesn't know when, or what type of business.

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