A rumor that circulated online in September and October 2025 claimed police arrested a 23-year-old woman working as a Starbucks barista at Portland International Airport in Oregon. According to the story — which featured an alleged mugshot of the barista — the incident occurred Sept. 30 after a family failed to tip her for preparing a large order of lattes and food. Snopes readers searched this website for the truth about this matter.
We concluded one or more users fabricated this false rumor in an attempt to create viral content, as well as potentially to build their Facebook followings and earn revenue.
Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo located no news media outlets — local to Portland or otherwise — publishing stories about what would be a widely reported incident. An investigation found the purported mugshot dated back to at least May 2023, in Instagram (archived) and X (archived) posts mentioning nothing of a barista or the city of Portland. Further, the Facebook pages posting the rumor displayed other posts telling similar fictional stories of police arresting women in their 20s working in the service industry, including for seeking revenge on customers not providing worthy tips. Those similar stories featured mugshot pictures unrelated to tipping disputes, as well as some mugshot photos users generated with artificial-intelligence tools.
We contacted the Portland International Airport police by phone to ask if they could officially confirm the arrest story as false and will update this article if we receive further information.
Looking for the origins of the rumor
On Sept. 30, the Facebook page The Daily Meme Feed posted (archived) the story with the alleged mugshot. The page displayed in its bio, "TBC VIRAL MEDIA is responsible for this Page."
(The Daily Meme Feed/Facebook)
The story read as follows:
Portland — A 23-year-old Starbucks barista at Portland International Airport was arrested Tuesday morning after what police described as a "gratuity blow-up" that disrupted terminal traffic.
Witnesses say the barista had just prepared a $47 order of lattes, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries for a family rushing to catch a flight. When they declined to tip on the payment screen, she allegedly shouted, "You'll drop hundreds on plane tickets but nothing for the person keeping you awake?"
When the customers tried to grab their order and leave, police say she hurled a hot latte across the counter, splashing onto one traveler's carry-on bag. She then vaulted over the counter and blocked the exit, demanding they add a tip before boarding.
Airport police arrived within minutes and arrested her on charges of assault and disorderly conduct.
The meltdown caused such a backup in the concourse that TSA briefly closed one checkpoint, delaying multiple flights by nearly 20 minutes.
On Oct. 5, the Facebook page Pure Videos — also displaying ownership by TBC Viral Media — posted (archived) the same story and image.
(Pure Videos/Facebook)
Other users also reposted this story on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), LinkedIn (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived).
TBC Viral spokesperson Mel Bouzad told Snopes via email they viewed the story elsewhere and reposted it. "We are a meme page so [we] post funny and wild stories we see online. We did not fact check the story since Facebook has got rid of fact checking."
Researching the alleged mugshot photo
A reverse-image search located the oldest post (archived) with the mugshot image from May 11, 2023. That post appeared on the @mugshawtys Instagram account. The same user also posted the image on X (archived). The caption did not include any details regarding the person's name, location or date of arrest. The text caption read only, "aggravated assault."
The picture displayed an earring hanging from the person's left ear, as well as a second earring appearing in the subject's hair — and no earring in their right ear. Also, both of the person's ears showed visual abnormalities. These ear and earring discrepancies possibly were related to the use of an AI tool or another type of fake image-generating website. We did not yet definitively determine the origins of the picture.
The same image appeared in a popular Facebook post (archived) in June 2025 with the caption, "Woman's mugshot goes viral online." That post also made no mention of Starbucks, a barista or Portland.
Similar fabricated stories about tipping revenge
A review of The Daily Meme Feed Facebook page found many posts from early October 2025 displaying mugshots and stories describing police arresting women in their 20s working in the service industry. Those stories claimed the employees attempted to resolve gratuity disputes with violence.
For example, on Oct. 1, a user managing The Daily Meme Feed posted (archived), in part, "St. Louis — A 26-year-old Olive Garden waitress was arrested Saturday evening after what police described as a "gratuity dispute that got out of control.'" The post claimed the matter involved a $94 bill.
(The Daily Meme Feed/Facebook)
Two days later, another post (archived) on The Daily Meme Feed featured a different mugshot and claimed the incident occurred at an Olive Garden restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida. The post said the matter involved a $96 bill — not $94, like the previous post.
(The Daily Meme Feed/Facebook)
Some of The Daily Meme Feed's posts displayed AI-generated mugshot pictures, as evidenced by the subjects' overly-smooth skin appearance — one of many signs of AI-created images. One post (archived) claimed, "IHOP Waitress Arrested After Syrup-Slinging Tip Tantrum in Phoenix." The Sightengine.com AI-detection website found a 99% likelihood a user created the post's mugshot picture with AI. (Snopes is aware that AI-detection websites can be far from reliable. That is why, before mentioning such websites, we first establish a solid reason why we believe someone generated content with AI.)
(The Daily Meme Feed/Facebook)
Trump administration's National Guard deployment
Some users' comments under the social media posts about the false Portland Starbucks story showed they believed the story genuinely occurred, while others expressed skepticism. Some commenters also mentioned the fact that, at around the same time the posts circulated, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration was busy attempting to deploy National Guard troops to Portland and other cities within the country.
Trump previously posted (archived) on his Truth Social platform that he intended to "provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists," and added, "I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary."
Meanwhile, state and local leaders, including Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, objected to the decision, with the governor saying, "Oregon is our home — not a military target."
For further reading, previous fact-check articles examined other rumors about Starbucks, including one claim alleging tech billionaire Elon Musk once helped a Starbucks barista buy her daughter a gift.