Residents in Highland Park in northeast Los Angeles have been receiving paid-for Uber Eats food on their doorsteps for months that they didn’t order with some eating it, many tossing it, and others donating it to charity.

(Video Credit: FOX 11 Los Angeles)

The mystery is vexing the neighborhood and it has many there nervous. Residents have been receiving deliveries of chicken sandwiches, milkshakes, pastries, coffee, and other items, according to the Los Angeles Times. One residence has received over 40 orders.

Six Range View residents in Highland Park that were interviewed by the LA Times said they had received several Uber Eats deliveries of food they did not request and that many of their neighbors had received them as well. A number of people reported getting dozens of orders. One person called it “supremely bizarre.”

Residents report that most of the orders come from McDonald’s and Starbucks, though a few other fast-food chains have had orders delivered as well.

The deliveries began in February. A number of people told the LA Times that they sometimes receive multiple orders per day. No one knows if the orders are a scam, prank, or something worse.

Recently, I got an odd tip: residents on a Highland Park street said they were flooded w/ unwanted food deliveries from Uber Eats. Despite never placing the orders, some had gotten 30+ deliveries of items from McDonald's and Starbucks. I had to know more. https://t.co/obtt92Tldl pic.twitter.com/rtkMdBJedm

— Daniel Miller (@DanielNMiller) March 15, 2023

The delivery drivers have provided residents with very little information on who is placing the orders, either because they just don’t know who is doing it or because whoever it is is using the names of other people. Even stranger is that many times, the drivers are given a tip as well.

“The drivers always laugh at the situation,” Range View resident Will Neal, a documentary filmmaker, commented.

“It is kind of remarkable what they are able to do with a pancake sandwich,” he kidded, making a reference to the four unrequested McDonald’s McGriddles that he received at his home on Feb. 25. That was the first of 40 mysterious deliveries to his home.

“I don’t trust it — I’m throwing it out,” Dean Sao, who is a carpenter at nearby Pasadena City College, told the LA Times. “I don’t know who’s doing it. We were joking at first: It must be Elon Musk — I don’t know who else could afford it.”

Another resident named Morgan Currier has received 30 deliveries. She told the media outlet that she had the delivery driver call the number that was associated with the order that was placed, and it had been disconnected.

Yep, this has been happening to me. One weird thing that this (great) story kind of glosses over is that each order is for the SAME thing, like tiny stuff. I’ve been getting 3 small milk bottles from @McDonalds every other day for 2 weeks.

— Mike Duffy (@duffstar) March 15, 2023

“I’ve been getting 20-piece nuggets with sweet and sour sauce,” said Currier, who is a director of a labor union and a vegetarian. “What a waste … to send it to a vegetarian. I had a friend who I would text: ‘Come on over and grab it.’ And then even he said, ‘I can’t keep eating 20-piece chicken nuggets. I’ve reached my limit.'”

Resident Caroline Aguirre, a retired parole agent, said she cornered one courier trying to deliver a bag marked with the name James on it and told her the order wasn’t for her. “She said, ‘I have to leave it, I don’t have a choice,'” Aguirre recalled. “She handed it to me.”

According to an Uber spokesperson who spoke with Fox Business, the company has launched an investigation into who is placing the orders and has “taken action” against a number of accounts.

The spokesperson also said that Uber Eats is monitoring orders that are sent to that stretch of Range View Avenue in Highland Park.

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