Inside the mysterious life of the Brooklyn dine-and-dash influencer — and why friends say she disappeared for a while

Brooklyn’s dine-and-dash influencer shows no signs of stopping.

Fresh off her arraignment on theft of service charges Friday — after she was arrested five times for non-payment at trendy Williamsburg restaurants — Pei “Lu” Chung was almost immediately accused of ripping off even more restaurants.

The faux influencer was arrested twice Saturday, at Sea Thai and Michelin-star Italian hotspot Misi, NYPD reports show, and given supervised release.

And on Monday night, Chung took to Instagram to post photos of a full mezze platter, lamb and coconut milk pudding from popular Israeli restaurant 12 Chairs — where she walked out without paying her bill, management claimed to The Post.

“She left and didn’t pay,” a source close to the restaurant told The Post, adding that 12 Chairs did not call police.

Chung, 34, has been arrested seven times since late October, after skipping out on high-tally tabs at restaurants like Peter Luger, Francie and Lavender Lake.

Owners and chefs told The Post how Chung comes in “dressed to the nines,” takes photos of her food, then tries to barter with social-media posts or used credit cards that are inevitably declined.

A manager at Peter Luger alleged to The Post that Chung even tried to offer a sexual favor to cover her meal, The Post reported Sunday.

Former friends told The Post that, prior to her savory scams, Chung was a regular on the city’s glittering social scene — elegantly dressed in Prada and Louis Vuitton at classical music galasand nightclubs — but disappeared a couple of years ago.

Born in Taiwan, Chung says on her personal website that she studied ballet and classical piano, started playing the violin at age 3 and earned a 99 percentile rank on that country’s national exam. She also notes that she was “operating a rifle at age 17.”  

After earning a master degree in fine arts at the National University of Kaohsiung, she seems to have moved to New York around 2019 to attend Pratt University on a “full-ride merit scholarship,” according to her LinkedIn profile, studying Information Experience Design and Information Technology.

She was regularly photographed with Taiwanese socialites around Manhattan in 2021, partying at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in Midtown in October 2021 and at Buddakan in the Meatpacking District.

Chung wore a black off-the-shoulder dress to Arte Cafe on the Upper West Side and a bra top to Nebula nightclub in Midtown.

A friend who met Chung during the pandemic told The Post they bonded over classical music and that she was active on the Taiwanese social circuit in NYC.

“She invited me to concerts and museums. We also had meals together several times, either alone or with friends,” the young man said, asking to remain anonymous.

“She treated me before, after I invited her to a concert. She wasn’t the kind of girl that expects guys to pay. When we went out as a group, she also paid for her portion. I don’t know about her other actual dates though.

“She was always very polite, well-mannered, and showed strong interest in art and education. She’s a smart girl.”

But things took a dark turn, the friend said, when Chung suddenly started talking about an “ex boyfriend.”

“She had been acting a bit strange, so I reached out to check in and ask if she was OK or needed any help. She started messaging me saying she wasn’t well — that her ex had come to New York, was stalking her, and that she was scared. We spoke on the phone a few times because it seemed like she needed someone to talk to and calm her down,” the friend said, adding that Chung sounded like “a completely different person” than before.

“It felt like there were two sides of her, and she was extremely distressed … different person, different voice, tone, personality, and way of thinking. At one point, she was so frightened that she asked if I could stay with her and pretend to be her boyfriend. I told her that if she truly needed someone for safety, I could go accompany her. But her behavior became increasingly unusual, so I never went.”

Then, the friend said, Chung disappeared.

Another source confirmed she “went off the grid all of the sudden” after December 2021.

“A lot of our friends stopped seeing her. She doesn’t come out anymore,” said the source, who asked to withhold his name. 

“We tried to see if she’s OK. We got concerned. She was our friend. We’re like, ‘Why did you stop coming out?’ She mentioned it was something about her ex that he was tracking her down. She was in hiding.”

After that, the source said of Chung, “she didn’t reply and she was gone. She unfollowed me. All the people that I know who once knew her don’t talk to her.”

According to Chung’s LinkedIn, she briefly worked as a contract UX (user experience) designer for companies including Chase, Comcast and Vanguard. But her last posted job was in March 2023 — and she lists herself as “semi retired.”

She began posting influencer-style food photos that year — from places like L’abeille, a French restaurant in Tribeca, and Jean-Georges.

Chung, who lives in a luxury apartment tower in Williamsburg, also tags brands for the clothes and accessories she’s wearing: Prada, Dior, Cartier, Burberry. Before her 12 Chairs jaunt, Chung posted a video of herself shopping at Hermès in Williamsburg, the neighborhood she rarely seems to leave.

“I don’t know how she’s affording it. The stuff that she uses and buys, she’s flexing it and she wants people to know,” the source said. 

Both friends said they were shocked by news of her dine-and-dash schemes.

But Chung’s also seemingly got a new plan up her designer sleeve.

According to a Reddit user who claims to have matched with Chung on the dating app Hinge, she’s ready to exchange her nightlife knowledge for tips on equity trading.

“I knew where to get drinks [to] match your looks,” she allegedly wrote. “If you can exchange your knowledge about that, I will take you to the place.”

Just be sure to bring your wallet.