On Sept. 30, Taeli Kim, owner of Sonbul Café, received a phone call from someone claiming to be his electric company. The caller asked about missed payments and threatened to shut off services to his restaurant. Initially skeptical, Kim continued to receive calls over the next five days, during which the callers revealed personal information, including his bank account number. By Saturday, he had sent more than $5,000 to the scammers.
On Sunday, Kim created an online fundraiser for the Bed-Stuy café. Three days later, the campaign had raised almost the entire amount Kim lost.
“I felt very vulnerable and very uncertain at that point in time,” Kim said. “But the last few days have been incredible. Everyone’s really pulled through for me in a way that I didn’t expect. I feel very blessed and very grateful — I feel very loved for sure.”
Kim’s role as a new business owner has heightened the stress of the scam. Although Sonbul Café has conducted pop-ups around the city for some time, its permanent location has been open for less than a year. Kim said losing the money jeopardized his ability to make payroll and cover ongoing deposits for the space.
“It put me in a very tight spot,” he said. “I hear about businesses closing every day.”
Kim runs Sonbul Café by himself, and said his main priority is ensuring the restaurant doesn’t go under. Amidst this, he didn’t realize how prevalent the scam was.
Utility impostor scams have increased nationwide, prompting Con Edison to create a dedicated webpage to combat the issue. According to the company, common intimidation tactics used by scammers include urging victims to use phone payment apps, demanding multiple payments at once, and threatening immediate service disconnection. Although these practices are not standard for Con Edison, scammers enhance the legitimacy of their calls by using a phone number associated with the company.
“I should have just hung up the phone and called Con Edison,” he said.”But you know, when there’s that pressure of ‘oh, we’re gonna shut down your energy,’ the fight or flight kicks in and you’re like, I don’t know, what do I do?”
In Kim’s case, the scammers used a Guest Payment system to make it seem like his payments were going through to his account, but then they canceled and pocketed the money before it was processed.
Despite the setback, the café continues to have glowing reviews and serve the community. The GoFundMe has amassed donations from more than 100 individual donors, most of them locals who enjoy Kim’s take on Korean cuisine.
