Seattle sushi restaurant robbed of full day’s profits in new scam, owner says
Dec 8, 2025, 10:13 AM
Exterior of Migoto Sushi in downtown Seattle. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
A Seattle restaurant owner is warning other establishments of a new scam targeting pay machines and tablets.
Migoto Sushi in downtown Seattle was targeted by two men who allegedly stole a full day’s worth of profits.
Owner John Nguyen says the men came inside and placed an order on Friday afternoon.
When they went to pay, one of them claimed they didn’t have a credit card but could enter a credit card number into the payment tablet at the register.
“He said to the server, ”Here give me the tablet so I can put in the number for you because I remember it,” Nguyen recalled.
“Once they put it in, one guy scans some kind of small chip into my device and after that all the money is transferred to them, the whole day’s sale transferred to their Visa.”
Once the transfer was complete, the men claimed not to have any money and quickly left the store, Nguyen said.
“We work very hard, I want to let everyone know who has a business to be careful about these kinds of messes,” Nguyen said.
“The warning is do not let anybody touch the device at your business, we trust the customer so we let them do it but now we’ve learned, you don’t know who is a good person and who is a bad person,” he continued.
