The amount of scams keeps increasing by the day with most apps being victims to them and the users the ones who fall prey.
Scammers constantly are using popular digital platforms from messaging apps to e-commerce platforms, and financial apps to now even cab riding apps to reach out to unsuspecting people, wanting to scam them off their money.
Recently, a commuter posted about an Uber fare scam raising concerns about fare transparency, fake screenshots and more.
What Happened?
A Delhi man posted on Reddit how he was duped into paying double his fare by his Uber taxi driver.
On the night of March 24 around 10.30 pm, the man and his father booked a cab from the Uber app at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport and the fare showed as Rs. 340 to their destination at the time of booking.
However, when the trip ended at the destination, the Uber driver demanded that the final amount was Rs. 648 and even showed his phone screen showing the amount trying to lure the passenger to believe him.
The man had taken a photo of the driver’s phone with the payment on it and realised that there were certain discrepancies in the image, leading him to believe that what the driver showed him was a fake screenshot.
The man wrote
“So i booked a trip from igi airport to my home on 24th night around 10:30, the app showed around 340 rs for an Uber Go so i booked that , when i reached my destination the driver asked me 648, I asked what ?!!
That’s almost double the cost of which I booked for. I asked for the screen which showed the payment to confirm. I asked “bhai app pe toh 340 dikha rha tha jis time book kiya tha ab 648 kaise ho gye?”
He replied “yahan par toh wait charges dikha rha hai” although we didn’t even encounter traffic or stopped the car during the trip, I didn’t create a scene at that time it was around 11:30. I simply asked for the payment screen. He was hesitating but I convinced him. I took a photo and came back, the next day I noticed the photo and found a few things
The spelling of my name was wrong I have a n in my name and the screenshot showed an r
There were 2 Uber floating icons”
Read More: Learn How Chinese Loan Apps Are Scamming Indian Citizens By Exploiting India’s UPI Systems
The man further wrote “I knew something was fishy so I opened the app and it showed ₹127.48 for the trip. I contacted support and they said the driver reported that he collected 127.48 only. I have only got a refund of only ₹127.08.”
The commuter wrote that a person should “ONLY PAY THE AMOUNT SHOWN ON YOUR APP don’t even pay a single rupee extra” and commented that “The drivers supposingly used a spoof app to show wrong payment information, i guess he was not in his senses and typed the wrong name, he even talked soo much while travelling to distract us into thinking he’s a good person.”
He even raised questions about the 4.90 star rating the driver had and how it was possible.
User @Muster-baiter replied to this “Quite unfortunate. That’s the reason I use ONLY the online payment method(UPI). I get the pop-up; there is no need to pay immediately; I can do it even days later or till I need to book another cab” to which @Bleatoflambs replied “I have heard from the uber representative at the igi airport that the drivers don’t accept rides with non-cash mode of payment. You would have to wait for an hour to get a ride. So it’s a catch 22.”
Another user replied “That creates another issue for customers which I got to know in detail about this. When one books through online, many can guys call you to ask where you have to go and cancel the booking or cancel upfront without calling you. Reason for the same is that drivers are paid quite late by Uber so these drivers prefer customers who pay in cash.”
To this user @undr_wtr__bskt_wvr undr_wtr__bskt_wvr u/undr_wtr__bskt_wvr wrote “Not just that. Drivers have to pay Uber a part of the fare. That’s the Uber’s commission. When a customer pays online through the Uber app, the money goes to the company first, and then they pay the driver after deducting the commission amount.
On the other hand when the customer chooses an offline payment option, the customer pays the driver the entire fare amount, either in cash or through UPI. In this mode, the commission never reaches the company.
Therefore, the company keeps a record of the commission amount owed to the company by the driver. A lot of these drivers would like to keep the extra cash to themselves, and doesn’t pay Uber anything. This causes the dues to add up over time. And next time when someone chooses to pay in-app, the driver wouldn’t get any cash at all, so they ditch the customers who demand to pay in-app only.
Source: I used to have an Ola Corporate account with a 4000 Rs limit for every month. I have seen about 10 driver’s Ola wallets with upwards of 10000 Rs owed to Ola from their side. This is a classic case of misuse of Uber/Ola’s services from the driver’s side.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Indian Express, Moneycontrol, Business
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Uber, Uber scam, Uber fare, Uber driver, Uber fare scam, Uber India, scam, uber driver, viral news, delhi, social media viral
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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