Ordering an Uber is supposed to be easy. You open the app, request a ride, the driver comes, and you set off on your way.
If only it were that simple. In reality, many have noted a variety of issues actually using the driving app to get from point A to point B. Wheelchair users say they’ve been discriminated against during rides. Others have said that they’ve seen notable price differences after changing which card they use.
Now, a user on TikTok says her Uber driver tried to pull a new scam on her. Is it common?
How Did An Uber Driver Try to Scam This Woman?
In a video with over 240,000 views, TikTok user Saj (@dasaj.yin) shows a parked car. According to Saj, the car belongs to an Uber driver.
“I requested this Uber 15 minutes ago. He’s accepted it. He has not even picked me up,” she says. “But he’s sitting here in his car.”
After a few seconds, the driver departs.
In a follow-up video, Saj explains that, after requesting the rideshare, she was told it would arrive in 4 minutes. The driver did not move for the next 15 minutes.
“I reached out to him, I called him, I texted him. He ignored me,” she details. “He didn’t respond to me. I even asked him, ‘If you cannot complete the Uber, can you cancel?’”
Eventually, Saj determined that the driver was purposefully ignoring her. Consequently, she called another ride. During her new ride, she asked the Uber driver to pull over to the location of the previous Uber driver, which is where she filmed her original video.
What Is This Uber Scam?
This is an Uber scam that appears to be growing in popularity. As previously covered by The Mary Sue, Uber users claim that an increasing number of drivers seem to be accepting ride requests without ever planning to complete them.
The goal, it seems, is to make the rider wait so long that they decide to cancel the ride themselves. As Uber charges a cancellation fee, this allows drivers to accrue earnings without leaving their parking spot.
As noted on the company website, “When a trip request is cancelled or the rider doesn’t arrive at the pickup location, you may be paid a cancellation fee. Cancellation fees generally apply when … a rider cancels a trip request more than the allowed number of minutes after you accept the trip (varies by location) and you’re running on time.”
Uber’s site notes that the aforementioned behavior is fraudulent. Additionally, the above verbiage — “running on time” — seems to allow them to not pay drivers cancellation fees if they are determined to not have been moving.
Still, this scam has been ongoing for some time. Reddit posts from three years ago mention this exact problem, with many commenters simply suggesting ordering a different ride on another app, then waiting out the original driver or reporting them to Uber.
@dasaj.yin TikTok do your job! clearly uber just hires any and everyone reliable or not ? it gets to a point ??♀️ #uber #scam ♬ original sound – ?Saj
Commenters Are Frustrated
In the comments section, users expressed their annoyance—not only about this practice, but about Uber’s apparent inability to prevent it.
“It’s crazy how the Uber drivers don’t realize that we have GPS on you as well,” said a user.
“That happened to me a few times. I jumped in a lyft and continue to let the uber driver ignore me. After 30 minutes i contacted uber and got him suspended for 30 days,” offered another.
“Make sure y’all talk to Uber before calling another service. I caught one sitting like this and then when I confronted him he drove off,pretended I got in the car,and drove to my address hoping that I got another car home and the gps would look like he drove me there,” detailed a third. “I didn’t move until I spoke to Uber and they could see that I was still at the pickup when he was at the dropoff.”
The Mary Sue reached out to Uber via email and Saj via TikTok direct message and comment.
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