Leamington takeaway investigated for fraud
**Two students have reported that money was taken erroneously from their bank accounts after paying for meals on their debit cards from Sicilian Pizza, a takeaway restaurant on High Street, Leamington Spa.**
George Ryan, second-year Politics undergraduate, bought a £5.50 Hawaiian pizza at around 3am on Saturday 16 March. Three days later, £5.50, along with an additional £15.50, was taken from his account.
Another student who wished to remain anonymous bought a mega deal for £6 plus 50p card charge on 9 March. Since then, she has received billings for £16.50 on four separate occasions, losing £85 in total. She claims she did not visit or purchase any food from Sicilian Pizza on any of the dates in which she was billed.
The transactions on both students’ accounts were billed from ‘Spicey Nights’. When questioned about this, Sicilian Pizza explained that they were using a new card machine as the other one was broken.
Manager of Sicilian Pizza, Shaz Makhmoor, issued a statement: “If something has been overcharged, the customer can bring their bank statement and their receipt and I can offer them a full refund,” he said.
“It shouldn’t have happened. We will be more careful in the future. We’re very sorry about that and we’re happy to refund it back.”
Mr Makhmoor added that a similar situation had happened around three months ago.
Mr Ryan said he was inconvenienced by the situation.
“I phoned the bank who said they would pass it on to their fraud department as procedure,” he said. “I contacted Sicilian Pizza who said they would be happy to discuss it with me in person as they believe it is an admin error. I have of friends who have also been affected by this, however, so I’m not sure it is an error.
“I’m back home now so I can’t exactly go back to Leamington to claim back £15.50, so it’s a massive inconvenience as I’ve had to get my card cancelled now.”
The anonymous student has also contacted her bank, whose fraud department is investigating.
_More to follow…_
Have you had money wrongly taken from your account after making a purchase at Sicilian Pizza? Contact [news@theboar.org](mailto: news@theboar.org) or [M.K.Allen@warwick.ac.uk](mailto: M.K.Allen@warwick.ac.uk).
Alternatively contact either of the following:
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