There is a new scam in town which is duplicating your number and then using it and your ID to book rides on UBER and charging an exorbitant amount for a ride that may have lasted exactly 2 minutes. In a fast-paced digitized society that we are all living in, nothing seems to be private anymore including your personal mobile number and everything can be duplicated at whatever time to siphon off your hard-earned money. 

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The ordeal

This weekend turned harrowing for me all thanks to ride-hailing app UBER. On Saturday at 4:30 am IST I got an alert on my mobile stating that my trip had been verified and a pin has been generated. I was asleep and the alert message was read with sleepy eyes.

Confused at seeing the message, I tapped on the ‘pin’ thinking if I had a booked a ride on UBER by mistake or in sleep. The message redirected me to UBER login page and asked me to login with my phone number. Half asleep I fed in the number and turned off the phone and got back to sleep.

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Hours later, around 11 am, I got a call from a UBER driver stating that my Intercity ride for Punjab had been booked and he was waiting at the pick-up location. Again, confused by the call, I went on my UBER app to check if I had booked any ride or if there was a scheduled trip booked through my ID. I found none. 

Since that call on Saturday morning, I received at least 40 calls through the weekend. Some calls came at 1:30 or 2:30 am at night, some at 5 am in the morning. Of the 40 calls – I answered at least 10, politely refusing the drivers that I had not booked any ride and that there was some mistake or confusion. Some believed me, some were baffled much like me stating that the app only shows the rider’s phone number.

Uninstalled UBER app

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Meanwhile, tired of receiving unending calls, I tried logging out of UBER app on my phone but alas, the app didn’t let me. I logged out of my app, reinstalled, logged in again, tried to deactivate my account at UBER and eventually deleted the app but the phone didn’t stop buzzing through the weekend.

The pick-up location varied. From one of ever-stretching Delhi to another except my location. Most drivers I spoke to stated that the drops were Intercity.

Since Saturday, I tried calling UBER customer care but to no avail. I finally reached out on X and on DM they said they are looking into the matter. If only that were true.

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Rs 4.6 lakhs charged for no trips

Early Monday morning I got a call from the admin in my office claiming that Rs 4.6 lakhs were charged on my corporate account on UBER. Let that sink in.

A little flashback here: I had a company account linked to my UBER APP in 2018. I would only use that account when I had to go for official work. I stopped using that account post-pandemic, but the account was not removed from my app. 

No trip had been billed to the company for the last 2 years until Saturday. Further inquest revealed that the trips were booked and charged for a hefty Rs. 4,000 to 8,000 for a distance of 2 km or less.

While the company has now blocked my number on the app and raised it to UBER, I am yet to hear from the cab company.

I have obviously shared my ordeal on social media to make others aware of the new scam. I have also lodged an official complaint with the Cyber Crime Cell. Fortunately, no money has been debited from the company’s account or mine, but the whole experience has left a bitter aftertaste. 

Breach of privacy

It also leads to so many questions about privacy and theft of IP. I am a journalist whose job is used to work with various third-party players. I receive tons of calls from unknown numbers on a daily basis- most who are PR professionals pitching stories and ideas.

My number is shared widely for work, but this incident has made me rethink if it is a good idea to share numbers. There is clearly a breach of privacy and that too from an app like UBER where someone has taken my number and now using it nonstop to harass.

Forget media personnel, in the age of digitization, where everything is available at the tap of an app and where all your accounts are linked to phone numbers and payment approvals are just an OTP away, we are all at huge risk of financial frauds such as this.

UBER – an internationally acclaimed service provider app - has clear loopholes in the system, where all our numbers and personal information are just a few clicks away from a leak. It is that easy to now crack the code even of an app of international repute like UBER.  With no customer care in place, riders are left in the lurch when such a situation arises.

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There is an urgent need to think ahead of scammers and make these apps hack proof. Most of these apps promise prompt services but customer care services need an overhauling urgently.

It’s been 48 hours since the first call came. No one has reached out from UBER.. All I have got are rhetoric messages on my X DM stating ‘they are looking into the matter’. 

Look into your app first, UBER, and clear out these issues first.

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