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The original was posted on /r/newcastleupontyne by /u/dr3x29 on 2025-08-09 07:11:00+00:00.

Something proper weird happened yesterday evening! I fancied a pizza and the place I usually get from was closed, so I kinda hurried and picked the first place I could find that had GF pizza, as it was getting quite late.

I ended up ordering from ‘PizzaExpress Pasta & Pizza’. The address matched that of Pizza Express in Eldon Sq, it had reviews, and it currently had an offer of 50% off a lot of its food. The menu also appeared to be a normal Pizza Express menu.

It was just after 9 when I ordered, the place said it closed at 9:30, yet the delivery was expected to be closer to 10pm.

Anyway at around 9:30, I could see the delivery guy was nearby, much earlier than expected. I went outside to collect my order and the guy just handed me a pizza box and nothing else. I had ordered multiple items so I knew it wasn’t my order. I told him this clearly and he said something to the effect of “this is the order I picked up”, pointed to his delivery box as to indicate my order wasn’t in there, and then promptly got on his bike and f***ed off.

It wasn’t until I got inside that I realised that the receipt for the order was for Deliveroo and not Uber Eats. Weirdly, it did have my correct first name on it, and all the branding off the receipt, the box, the seal etc was for Pizza Express.

There was a phone number for the order on the box, which I googled, and it came up with results like “number used in delivery scam” and lots of reviews with similar stories, though usually they said the name was wrong on the receipt.

I couldn’t call Pizza Express as by that time the restaurant had closed. I raised a complaint on the app and I’ve been refunded, but I have so many questions 😂

So yeah, I’m pretty sure it was a scam, but the only thing I can think of how they would be able to do this is if the whole restaurant on Uber Eats was just fake.

I don’t want to tarnish the name of Pizza Express but has anyone else ordered from there via Uber Eats? Has anyone else been ‘victim’ to similar scams in Newcastle? Does anyone know how these scams actually work, logistically speaking?

I’m almost impressed at the complexity of it all!