Deliveroo April Fools’ joke backfires in France after thousands of customers sent fake £400 bills

Deliveroo April Fools’ joke backfires in France after thousands of customers were sent fake £400 bills for pizzas they never ordered

  • Deliveroo France issued fake confirmation emails for orders totalling over €450
  • Recipients said they had tried to call their banks in a panic to block any payment 
  • The food-delivery company has since issued a statement on Twitter to apologise 

Deliveroo’s April Fools’ joke backfires in France after thousands of customers were sent fake £400 bills for pizzas they never ordered.

The food-delivery company issued fake confirmation emails to its customers for orders totalling more than €450 (£380) on April 1.

Dozens of recipients said that they had tried to call their banks in a panic to block any payment after thinking their accounts had been hacked.  

Deliveroo France has since issued a statement on Twitter to apologise and confirm the invoices were not serious.

The food-delivery company issued fake confirmation emails to its customers for orders totalling more than €450 (£380) on April 1.

One Deliveroo customer, 24-year-old Elies, said he ‘almost had a stroke’ after receiving the confirmation email which included a €466 invoice for 38 pizzas that he had not ordered.

He uploaded a screenshot of the fake order which included the customer’s first name at the top of the message alongside the words: ‘Excellent choice’. 

It also stated that as a loyalty reward 50 sachets of hot sauce were being thrown in for free.

And other social media users were quick to comment under Elies’s post to vent their own frustrations.

One wrote: ‘I invite all the victims of the very bad “April Fools” from @Deliveroo_FR to unsubscribe from their platform. The joke is in very bad taste.’

Another added: ‘Horrible when you see your first name on the mail.’

And a third added: ‘Don’t worry, I got the same email, so I uninstalled Deliveroo.’

Deliveroo France has since issued a statement on Twitter to apologise and confirm the invoices were not serious

Deliveroo France has since issued a statement on Twitter to apologise and confirm the invoices were not serious

Deliveroo France has since taken to Twitter to apologise and confirm that the emails had not been serious.

They uploaded a length statement alongside a caption that read: ‘Our apologies for this April Fool’s Day.’  

‘We confirm that it was an April Fool’s joke,’ the clarification read. ‘You can enjoy the evening by ordering the pizza of your choice.’

MailOnline has contacted Deliveroo for further comment.