DoorDash says it has permanently banned a delivery driver after a viral post accused them of using an AI-generated image to fake a completed order.
The story comes from Austin resident Byrne Hobart and was first reported by Nexstar. Hobart described the incident in a post on X, writing: "Amazing. DoorDash driver accepted the drive, immediately marked it as delivered, and submitted an AI-generated image of a DoorDash order (left) at our front door (right)."
The post quickly took off, prompting Hobart to share more context. He acknowledged that the whole thing would be "pretty easy" to fake online, but he also pointed to another person in the replies who claimed the same thing had happened to them in Austin, with the same driver display name.
Hobart also offered a theory for how the scam might have worked. He speculated that the driver was using a hacked Dasher account on a jailbroken phone, and that they pulled a real image of his front door from a DoorDash feature that shows photos from prior deliveries to that address. That real-world image could then be fed into an AI image generator to create a convincing "proof of delivery" photo without ever showing up.
DoorDash, for its part, appears to have treated the report as genuine. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch, "After quickly investigating this incident, our team permanently removed the Dasherâs account and ensured the customer was made whole. We have zero tolerance for fraud and use a combination of technology and human review to detect and prevent bad actors from abusing our platform."
The company didnât share additional technical details, but the case highlights how generative AI is colliding with the trust systems that gig platforms rely on. Photo verification, meant to protect both drivers and customers, becomes a weaker signal when realistic images can be synthesized in seconds.
For now, the Austin driver is off the platform and Hobart got his money back. The harder problem is what comes next: DoorDash and every other delivery app now have to assume that any photo âproofâ can be faked â and design their fraud tools accordingly.
