$20,000 worth of prank calls push Sammy’s Fish and Chippery in Collinswood to the brink

A fish and chip shop owner says he is being sent broke by teens flooding his business with prank calls and false orders.

Sammy Klementou, owner of Sammy's Fish and Chippery has lost $20k over three years due to prank phone call orders. He says he get 50 to 60 calls per day. Picture: Kelly Barnes

A North East Rd fish and chip shop owner says he has lost more than $20,000 to fake food orders after receiving “50 to 60” prank phone calls per day.

Owner of Sammy’s Fish and Chippery in Collinswood, Sam Klementou, said he was at his wit’s end after receiving dozens of “really nasty calls” every day for the past three years.

Mr Klementou, 60, said teenagers, both male and female, frequently called the shop to make orders worth “anywhere between $10 and $70”, but never pick up the order.

He said in “90 per cent” of instances he was forced to throw the food away while the other 10 per cent was donated to the local homeless people.

Mr Klementou has also received calls threatening violence and he believes the pranksters are linked to an incident where the front windows of the shop were smashed.

“It’s impossible to run a business and getting those fake calls,” Mr Klementou said.

“I don’t want to answer the phone at all now but I don’t want to lose money.”

He has contacted the police over the harassment but this has not stopped the calls and the threats.

Sammy Klementou, owner of Sammy's Fish and Chippery has lost $20k over three years due to prank phone call orders. He says he get 40 to 60 calls per day. Picture: Kelly Barnes

SA Police said it had investigated the nuisance calls last year, however, “no suspects have been identified”.

“If the victim or anyone has further information or any suspects in relation to any of these incidents, they are encouraged to contact police,” a SA Police spokeswoman said.

Mr Klementou said he was not sure why he was being targeted but said the calls began after one of his staff members kicked some teens out of his shop more than three years ago.

“Some young kids on pushbikes came in front of the shop … they made a mess out there,” he said.

“They got food from elsewhere … they came into my shop, used my bin to put their rubbish in and one of my staff members had a go at them.”

Through answering machine messages of the prank callers’ phone numbers, Mr Klementou said he had concluded the teens responsible belonged to Adelaide Botanic High and Blackfriars Priory School.

Blackfriars deputy principal Brett Knowles confirmed that while some of the teens responsible did belong to the school, others “had no link”.

One of Mr Klementou’s employees met with senior staff members from Blackfriars on July 27.

The meeting “assisted them to identify that a common link between the callers was through a local sporting club rather than the school,” Mr Knowles said.

“The school also expressed its willingness to support the store owner if further evidence came to light that indicated a more significant link to its students.”

Mr Klementou believes many of the teen culprits were members of Broadview Football Club.

The football club was contacted for comment but did not provide a response.

Adelaide Botanic High School principal Alistair Brown confirmed the school has “been contacted by the business”.

“Our school takes allegations involving its students behaviour very seriously,” Mr Brown said.

“The school will co-operate fully with any police inquiry as needed.”

Two years ago, he even received an apology from one of the teen boys responsible, but the calls did not stop.

“One of the father’s brought his kid to our shop to apologise, but since then it has got bigger and bigger,” Mr Klementou said.

And accepting payment over the phone does not work, with customers claiming they never attended the store and then receive a refund from the bank, Mr Klementou said.

He is now in the process of developing an app to bypass phone interactions altogether, but this comes at a cost of “a couple grand”.

Originally published as $20,000 worth of prank calls push Sammy’s Fish and Chippery in Collinswood to the brink