The U.S. Attorney’s Office has forfeited $736,040 from money confiscated in relation to a 2023 Door Dash scam that will be distributed to the victims, according to David Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Sullivan made the announcement Wednesday, May 14 in conjunction with 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.
As alleged in the forfeiture complaint, on Jan. 5, 2023, Stamford Police responded to an apartment there for a domestic violence incident. David Smith was taken into custody and a victim was transported to the hospital. Later that day, investigators searching the apartment for a firearm found a 9mm handgun with an extended magazine, and also found multiple safes containing a total of $736,040 in cash, and 118 credit and debit cards, almost all of which were in the names of other individuals.
The investigation revealed that Smith was operating a scam in which he used multiple phones to place DoorDash orders for delivery. After the order was picked up, he would contact the drivers using a spoofed number and, using social engineering, convince the drivers to hand over their DoorDash account information.
Using this information, Smith would steal the victim’s delivery money that had been pooled in their account. The cash that was seized and forfeited represents the proceeds from this scheme.
Smith, who was being prosecuted by the State of Connecticut, was murdered in New York on Jan. 6, 2025, according to court documents.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a civil forfeiture complaint against the seized money and, on April 30 the U.S. District Court granted the government’s motion for a decree of forfeiture.
Generally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office first forfeits the money, then returns it to the crime victims, so that the crime victims have clear title to the property without risk of further litigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office asks if a person believes they were a victim of this scheme, visit this web page or this FBI New Haven Facebook post. There, victims of this particular scheme will find the instructions to make a petition for remission. Should the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering Asset Recovery Unit approve the petition, they may recoup some or all of their losses.
