Influencer Pei‑Yun Chung Arrested After Allegedly Dining and Dashing at Multiple New York Restaurants

27 November 2025

Dine and dash influencer Pei-Yun Chung arrested. (Instagram)

A 35-year-old social media influencer from New York City named Pei-Yun Chung has been arrested seven times since October 22, 2025 for allegedly dining at various upscale restaurants around the city, then leaving without paying her bills.

Chung, who amassed over 26,000 followers on Instagram posting food photos and “restaurant reviews,” is accused of running up tabs as high as $149 before stiffing restaurants such as Misi, Sea Thai Brooklyn, Mole Mexican Bar & Grill, and Francie among others.

According to police, her modus operandi involved treating meals like content. She would order elaborate dishes, photograph them for social-media posts, and then when it came time to pay either present declined credit cards or offer social-media exposure instead of cash. When asked to pay, she allegedly walked out of the establishments. One restauranteur said the pattern became so notorious that owners began alerting each other if she entered their venues.

As of her most recent arrest on Nov. 23, Chung has been held at Rikers Island on $4,500 bail and charged with misdemeanor theft of services. Her next court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 26.

The fallout from the case has rippled across New York’s restaurant community. Owners at high-end dining spots say the repeated incidents have not only cost them money, but also undermined trust, many had previously welcomed influencer visits in hopes of free promotion and publicity. This case has sparked renewed scrutiny of “influencer marketing” in the food industry, especially as some individuals seem to exploit that model solely for free meals rather than genuine content-creation.

Chung’s social-media presence has gone quiet since Oct. 23, and she has not responded to media requests for comment or for her side of the story. Meanwhile, restaurant owners and city officials are watching closely to see if this case will prompt new policies or enforcement around influencer promotions and dine-and-dash fraud.

For now the spotlight is on a woman who leveraged the swirl of social-media glamor to allegedly exploit fine dining and on a city once again asking how to police the intersection of content creation, commerce and accountability.