A Belfast takeaway owner has revealed he had to borrow money from the bank just to keep his business open, after losing almost £9,000 to an alleged scam on his Just Eat account.
Joe Morgan owns Finaghy based takeaway Nemo’s fish and chips and said that he was ‘devastated’ after losing out on thousands of pounds for orders he fulfilled after it appeared that his bank account details had been changed on his Just Eat account.
Popular food delivery app Just Eat said they were investigating a number of reports of fraud from several eateries as owners lost out on the money from orders.
Speaking to the BBC‘s Good Morning Ulster, Mr Morgan said he was ‘devastated’ at the loss of £8,650 and said it has now left him having to borrow more money to pay suppliers and keep his business going.
“There’s no other way around it, if I don’t borrow money I won’t survive.
“It means very, very hard months ahead, it means I’ll have to borrow money to pay suppliers, PAYE, HMRC – there’s a lot of stuff that people don’t see in the background. Chips don’t just make themselves,” he said.
Mr Morgan said his business has ‘never been in this bad a shape’ adding, “for the staff, it’s not good for them wondering if they’re going to get paid.”
The PSNI is investigating the incident and has opened an inquiry with an estimated £15,000 having been lost by several businesses to the scam.
Director of the Northern Ireland Takeaways Association, Michael Henderson added: “We aren’t here to point…
