Pune woman receives late-night texts from restaurant staff, management fires him

A Pune woman has alleged that she received late-night messages from a staff member of a restaurant she had visited earlier that day, sparking concerns online over customer data privacy and misuse of personal information collected through QR-code-based systems.

The incident has unsettled many social media users because it transformed something incredibly routine, scanning a digital menu at a restaurant, into what the woman described as a deeply uncomfortable invasion of privacy.

According to Rishika Dutta, the incident began after she visited a restaurant on Pune’s FC Road. Like most customers today, she scanned a QR code placed on the table to browse the menu and place an order. The process seemed completely normal at the time.

But later that night, her phone allegedly started receiving messages from an unknown number.

According to her social media post, the sender identified himself as a restaurant staff member. The woman claimed she never directly shared her contact number with him, leading her to believe it had been accessed internally through the restaurant’s digital ordering system.

Screenshots shared online triggered immediate outrage, with many users calling the incident “creepy,” “terrifying” and a serious breach of customer trust.

The story quickly snowballed into a larger conversation around data privacy and women’s safety in public spaces. Several women online said the incident made them rethink how casually personal information is handed over through QR menus, loyalty programmes and digital payment systems.

Watch the video here:

Many pointed out that customers rarely know who inside a business can view their contact details once information enters these systems.

What particularly shocked users was how ordinary the situation initially seemed. The woman had simply gone out to eat, scanned a menu and returned home, only to allegedly find her personal number being used without consent hours later.

Following the backlash online, the restaurant stated that it had taken immediate action and terminated the employee involved.

Still, the incident has left many people uneasy about how easily personal information collected for convenience can allegedly cross into harassment when safeguards fail.

For many online, the story no longer felt like just one uncomfortable restaurant experience. It became a reminder of how vulnerable personal data can quietly become in everyday situations people barely think twice about anymore.