<p>CAPE CORAL — Police arrested a local man after he was caught operating an elaborate fake drive-thru window from his living room, taking orders and payments from confused drivers who thought they were at a Wendy&#8217;s.</p> <p>Troy Buchanan, 36, had constructed a replica drive-thru window in the front of his house, complete with a speaker system, menu board, and a payment window. For three weeks, he successfully took orders from unsuspecting customers who pulled into his driveway thinking it was a Wendy&#8217;s drive-thru.</p> <p>&#8220;He was actually pretty good at it,&#8221; said Officer James Mitchell. &#8220;He had the whole routine down—&#8217;Welcome to Wendy&#8217;s, can I take your order?&#8217;—the works. He even had a uniform shirt he bought online.&#8221;</p> <p>The scheme unraveled when customers started complaining to the actual Wendy&#8217;s down the street about never receiving their food and being charged strange amounts like $47.83 for a value meal.</p> <p>Investigators discovered Buchanan had been pocketing the money and telling customers their food would be ready &#8220;at the second window,&#8221; directing them around the block where they would realize there was no second window. By then, Buchanan had already closed his fake window and was counting his earnings.</p> <p>&#8220;I made about $2,300 in three weeks,&#8221; Buchanan admitted. &#8220;The trick was being really apologetic when they questioned the prices. I&#8217;d say &#8216;Yeah, inflation is crazy, right?&#8217; and they&#8217;d just hand over their credit card.&#8221;</p> <p>Some victims reported waiting up to 30 minutes for their food, circling the neighborhood looking for the &#8220;second window&#8221; before giving up. One customer drove around for so long they ran out of gas.</p> <p>Buchanan&#8217;s operation included a detailed menu board listing items that didn&#8217;t exist, such as the &#8220;Triple Baconator Supreme&#8221; ($28.99) and &#8220;Frosty Extreme with Gold Flakes&#8221; ($15.50). He later admitted he &#8220;just made up prices that sounded expensive but not too suspicious.&#8221;</p> <p>The fake drive-thru was decorated with legitimate-looking signs Buchanan had created using PowerPoint and a home printer. He even had a headset he bought from Amazon that he wore while taking orders &#8220;for authenticity.&#8221;</p> <p>Buchanan now faces charges of fraud, impersonating a fast-food franchise, operating a business without a license, and what police are calling &#8220;aggressive entrepreneurial deception.&#8221; Wendy&#8217;s corporate office released a statement saying they were &#8220;concerned and confused&#8221; by the incident.</p> <p>When asked why he chose this particular method of fraud, Buchanan replied: &#8220;I always wanted to work at Wendy&#8217;s but they never called me back about my application. So I figured I&#8217;d just start my own.&#8221;</p>