Fraud tricks U.K. Michelin restaurants out of $62,000

By Richard Vines.Midsummer House, a U.K. restaurant with two Michelin stars, was conned out of wine valued at 28,000 pounds ($44,000), Chef Daniel Clifford said.."That's the last three months' profit straight out of the window," Clifford said in a telephone interview today..Pied a Terre, a one-star Michelin restaurant in central London, lost 12,000 pounds of wine in a similar scam last month, owner David Moore said in a separate interview, confirming details reported by the Evening Standard today..Clifford said he received a call yesterday from a man claiming to be the agent of a famous soccer player. The fraudster booked a table for six for the player for today and pre-ordered wines costing 10,000 pounds. He called back an hour later to the restaurant in Cambridge, north of London, and said he needed wine costing another 18,000 pounds for a party..The man paid by CREDIT CARD. and the transaction was approved after the security code and address checked out, Clifford said. The man sent a taxi to pick up the rare Bordeaux for delivery to the same address. An hour later, he called again and ordered 12,000 pounds more in wine. He wanted to PAY. in two transactions, for 10,000 pounds and 2,000 pounds..When the 2,000 pounds order was declined by the card company, the restaurant canceled the rest of that order. Clifford agreed to release the wine that had been bought for lunch after checking with the taxi company where it was going..He said that someone subsequently called the taxi company to change the delivery address and the Lafite, Petrus and Haut-Brion wines were dropped off outside a branch of McDonald's..The police are now investigating and it has not yet been established whether the CREDIT CARD COMPANY. or the restaurant pays, Clifford said..Petrus Order.Pied a Terre also released wines to a telephone fraudster. The haul included three magnums of 2002 Cristal at 1,000 pounds apiece, plus a bottle of 1990 Cristal at 500 pounds and a bottle of 1990 Petrus costing 8,000 pounds. A taxi had been ordered to deliver the wines to a McDonald's.."Restaurants sometimes get these fraudsters trying in on, you just hope people don't fall for them," Moore said in the interview. "I spotted these transactions when I got to the office the next day and immediately thought they looked dodgy."- Bloomberg.(Richard Vines is the chief food critic for Bloomberg. Follow him on Twitter @richardvines).To contact the reporter on this story: Richard Vines in London at rvines@bloomberg.net.To contact the editors responsible for this story: Justin Ocean at jocean1@bloomberg.net Robert Valpuesta, John Bowker

Fraud tricks U.K. Michelin restaurants out of $62,000

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