The last thing you expect, when eating out, is discovering that a restaurant has taken out more than what you expected. When the bill should total around $30, it can be a rather nasty surprise to see that nearly $70 had been taken out of your bank account. For an elderly Shawnee, OK couple, this is exactly what happened.

The elderly couple decided to treat themselves to Abuelita’s, located just off of US-177. For them, everything appeared to be normal, that was until they got the receipt. A bill that should have been roughly $30.00, ended up draining their bank account.

Upon seeing the amount, they learned that they had actually been charged nearly double what they should have been (image below.) Upon reviewing their bank account, they found that the establishment took out $69.10 for a meal that should had only cost around $30.00. At this point, they contacted the restaurant. Upon bringing up the fraudulent charge, the woman on the phone, who had been their cashier, suddenly was unable to hear them. She proceeded to put somebody else on the phone and, just as before, he abruptly became deaf as soon as the concerns were brought up. At this point, it was clear to the customers that this was a deliberate theft.

With no alternative options, the defrauded customers returned to the restaurant and confronted them in person. It was at this point that they “returned” the funds, giving the customers the above copy of the receipt. However, this too would be proven false. In actuality, the charge still went through and the bank had received no indication that the bill had been reversed. The reason? Because the above voided charge, never left the restaurant’s register.

At this point, the customer’s were more than willing to bring law enforcement into the situation. They again, contacted Abuelita’s in attempt to get the unauthorized portion of the bill refunded. This time, however, they informed the employees that if it was not returned, charges would be filed. Only then did the establishment refund the additional $40.02 charge. However, they had also refunded the actual price of the meal.

While this situation did work out for this elderly couple, there is still a lingering question: how many other customers have they done this to, who didn’t notice the extra charge? More importantly, how long have they been conducting themselves in this form of theft? War on Corruption, LLC., reached out the restaurant, but have yet to receive a response. Should that change, we will add it to this article.