Hack Currently Aimed at Uber Drivers

OK, I'm old and I've been playing with computers for more years than most of my riders have been alive. So it's embarrassing to admit but I got Phished last week (and darn near gutted and filleted as well.)

This is a scam aimed directly at rideshare drivers. The thief or thieves appear to have a hack into the Uber computer or just knows a heck of a lot about it. Here's what went down:

• During the busiest period of the night last Friday, I got a ping on the Uber app to pick up "Alix" at a nearby hotel. Everything looked normal. Almost immediately, I received a call with a 415 exchange (as old people know, that's San Francisco). I thought it might be one of the calls that Uber transfers through a mangler so no one can learn the other's real number so I answered.

• A man on a terrible phone connection (which also made me think it was legitimate) said he was from the "Uber Main Office in San Francisco" and they wanted to give me a $400 gift certificate for passing 1,000 5-star rides and having a high star rating. He knew where I was and where I was going (not hard, I guess) and my name.

• I'm talking as I'm driving (handsfree, of course) but it's hard to keep track. I get to the hotel and he says "Are you waiting for Alix?" After I say yes, he says "just cancel her. That was just our way to get ahold of you." Well, Uber has done stranger things–they sent me to France once.

• Here is where I screwed up. He went for something trivial, like my exact star rating or something, then I got a four-number code that sure looked like the ones Uber sends. A screen came up and said to input the code to verify the call. Then it was my signon email. Another code transaction. Finally,…

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OK, I'm old and I've been playing with computers for more years than most of my riders have been alive. So it's embarrassing to admit but I got Phished last week (and darn near gutted and filleted as well.)

This is a scam aimed directly at rideshare drivers. The thief or thieves appear to have a hack into the Uber computer or just knows a heck of a lot about it. Here's what went down:

• During the busiest period of the night last Friday, I got a ping on the Uber app to pick up "Alix" at a nearby hotel. Everything looked normal. Almost immediately, I received a call with a 415 exchange (as old people know, that's San Francisco). I thought it might be one of the calls that Uber transfers through a mangler so no one can learn the other's real number so I answered.

• A man on a terrible phone connection (which also made me think it was legitimate) said he was from the "Uber Main Office in San Francisco" and they wanted to give me a $400 gift certificate for passing 1,000 5-star rides and having a high star rating. He knew where I was and where I was going (not hard, I guess) and my name.

• I'm talking as I'm driving (handsfree, of course) but it's hard to keep track. I get to the hotel and he says "Are you waiting for Alix?" After I say yes, he says "just cancel her. That was just our way to get ahold of you." Well, Uber has done stranger things–they sent me to France once.

• Here is where I screwed up. He went for something trivial, like my exact star rating or something, then I got a four-number code that sure looked like the ones Uber sends. A screen came up and said to input the code to verify the call. Then it was my signon email. Another code transaction. Finally, it was my password so that they could "attach the $400 debit card to my account." Right then another, legitimate rider beeped in and it got a bit confusing. I gave the codt to him thinking I could change if quickly. I said I was uncomfortable and he said "I'm from the Uber Main Office in San Francisco." about three times.

I have NO EXCUSE.

• What looked like more Uber codes and fill-in the box answers. He wished me well and hung up.

• What I noticed first was that I couldn't make calls from my car. The Uber system said it didn't recognize my number and then spun me back to the same two "Enter your phone number" question and answer sequences over and over. I WISH Uber didn't have such a thing against real people answering their phones!

• When I got home, I realized I'd been screwed good. Over the next three days, I realized he'd changed my phone number, changed all my bank codes, added an ATM debit card to my account, changed the system so I couldn't change things or get rid of the new debit card.

• I changed my email and password first but I think he'd also done something with my password system because I couldn't get it to stabilize. it would work and then freeze up. That could just be the usual conflict between Uber and my Dashlane password system.

• Of course all communication with Uber is by email and none of those Greenlight places were open. The first Email said that other drivers had been seeing the same problems and suggested I change my password

• I didn't know this at the time but I was getting emails from Uber telling me that there was strange activity on my account. I don't have emails come through when I'm working to minimize confusion.

• I emailed, called, and screamed to get that ATM card off my system but, since I didn't have another to replace it, I couldn't. This week was a looooong wait until the payoff showed up in my bank account.

So, just a word to the wiser that a grifter with a LOT of history with Uber and the gift of gab is out there. One .of the emails said the initial weird stuff came from the New York City area. I'm ashamed he got me even though I (don't think) I've lost any money. I sure lost a lot of wasted time. On the positive side, Uber had decided the weekend was a cheapie and we're only offering $105 for 65 rides so I wasn't going to work that hard anyway.

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