A London barista is accused of stealing £4,000 from coffee customers by scamming them while they thought they were paying for their beverages.
Police say Brandon Leung, 26, worked at Joe & The Juice and spent several months slyly slipping customers a fake payment terminal when their bill came due. The device, a “SumUp” product, belonged to Leung, but customers thought they were paying for their food and drinks directly to the restaurant. In reality, all the pounds for their coffee and treats was going directly into Leung’s own bank account.
He nearly got away with it, but the business caught on to the scam after a customer complained that Leung had charged his card for nearly £100 when his bill was only £42.10. Apparently panicked, Leung tried to refund the customer with his card reader but ended up going to an ATM to take the money back out to refund her.
The woman smelled something fishy and alerted the restaurant’s manager, who then rang up the cops.
Leung apparently has prior convictions for stealing from businesses he worked for, but he avoided jail time by admitting to his crimes and getting the British version of probation and 120 hours of community service.
The restaurant got an apology from Leung in which he admitted to stealing £4,016.20 from the store. Apparently he was not required to pay all this back, despite offering to do so. Instead, Leung was “lucky” to get only a fine of £200. Prosecutor Ellen Alexander said it was a sophisticated scam that involved “abuse of position and power.” Leung claimed he got the idea from watching other employees use their own card readers, but it is not clear whether this is true.
Leung’s defense lawyer said her client was £2,000 in debt and had already been demoted because he was caught advertising a personal business venture while he was on the clock.
