Uber says it is seeing an uptick in scams targeting drivers and passengers, and the ride-sharing company says it’s working hard to prevent fraud on its platform.
James Carvalho tried to get a quick ride to the airport from Miami using Uber. Instead, he ended up going in circles after being hacked.
“Immediately I received a text message from Uber with a four-digit code. The driver then said I need code and message pin through the app,” Carvalho said.
Carvalho says he received a text with an Uber PIN after giving the driver his phone number through the app.
“My building has a tricky pickup spot and there’s sometimes a language barrier with Uber drivers, so I didn’t think anything of it. Sent my number through the app,” Carvalho said.
He then got another PIN via email that the driver also asked for. That’s when Carvalho was locked out of his account.
“I went back to the app and my screen was blank. Back at the log-in screen. At that point, I realized I had been logged out of my account,” he said. “I couldn’t log back into it. I’d been scammed.”
The scammer activated two-factor authentication and changed the account password.
Carvalho says he then got an alert from his credit card.
“I was in a mad dash to the airport so I had to arrange for other transportation and while en route to the airport, I got an alert from Amex for a $206 charge,” Carvalho said.
After six hours, Carvalho got back into his account and discovered the scammer…
