The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut has announced the forfeiture of $736,040 linked to a scam involving the food delivery service DoorDash. The announcement was made by David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Anish Shukla, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI, and Paul J. Ferencek, State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk.
According to details from a forfeiture complaint, on January 5, 2023, Stamford Police responded to a domestic violence incident at an apartment in Stamford. David Smith was arrested at the scene while a victim was taken to a hospital. During a subsequent search for firearms in Smith's apartment, authorities discovered a 9mm handgun with an extended magazine along with multiple safes containing $736,040 in cash and 118 credit and debit cards registered under different names.
Investigations revealed that Smith orchestrated a scheme using several phones to place orders via DoorDash. After orders were picked up by drivers, he would contact them using spoofed numbers and employ social engineering tactics to obtain their DoorDash account information. This allowed him to access and steal money pooled in their accounts from deliveries.
Smith faced prosecution by the State of Connecticut but was murdered in New York on January 6, 2025.
Following these events, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture complaint regarding the seized funds. On April 30, 2025, the U.S. District Court approved the government's request for a Decree of Forfeiture.
Typically after such forfeitures are finalized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, efforts are made to return funds to crime victims ensuring they have clear ownership without further legal complications.
Individuals who believe they may have been victims of this scheme are encouraged to visit specified online resources provided by law enforcement agencies where instructions for submitting petitions for remission are available. Successful petitions approved by the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering Asset Recovery Unit may allow victims to recover some or all financial losses incurred due to this fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Nelson is handling this case.
