A Melbourne woman has taken to TikTok to give her followers some words of caution, after an interaction with a Uber driver gave her red flags due to his unusual request.
Following a strange interaction she had with an Uber driver on Saturday night, writer and podcaster Gemma Dimond was left shocked and confused.
In a TikTok video she shared with her 57K followers, Dimond recounted how alarm bells started going off when the Uber driver she booked to take her home immediately started doing something different.
“I booked an Uber home, and as I got into the Uber, I guess the driver canceled the trip,” Dimond said.
Which is usually not what you want the person you’re paying to drive you home to do. So after getting into the car and checking that she’d paid everything, the TikToker said she asked the driver what was going on.
At which point the driver requested something which inspired Dimond to make her “scary PSA”.
“He’s like, ‘Oh looks like the app is glitching. Can you just give me your address and I’ll put it into my maps, and I’ll work out, like, how much it would have been?'” Dimond recounted.
@gemdimond Bit scary PLEASE BE SAFE #uberscam #vicnews ♬ original sound – Gemma Dimond
She then explained that the unnamed driver had another app open to calculate the cost of a drive, and asked that she transfer him the money directly.
However, Dimond shared this unorthodox request made her uncomfortable, so she immediately said she’d be unable to pay that way, and asked the driver to pull over.
Thankfully, the TikToker had a friend nearby who could wait with her while she waited for another proper ride-share driver to come and pick her up. Unfortunately the experience had still left her irked.
“I don’t love it, I don’t love it. Keep your eyes out. I don’t love this,” she told her viewers.
In a comment on the video, she also confirmed with her viewers that reporting the incident was “literally the first thing” she did.
“I have of course reported it to Uber, I’m just sharing here in case anyone else finds themselves in the same situation,” Dimond explained.
What You Should Do If Your Uber Driver Unexpectedly Cancels
Uber confirmed to PEDESTRIAN.TV that no, drivers should absolutely not be cancelling on you — and that drivers who do so can be banned permanently from the platform.
“Fraudulent activity such as driver-partners encouraging riders to pay for a trip outside of the Uber platform is a clear breach of Uber’s Community Guidelines and this kind of behaviour can result in driver-partners permanently losing access to the app,” an Uber spokesperson told PEDESTIAN.TV. “We encourage riders to report behaviour such as this via the help section of our app, so we can take action right away.”
The spokesperson also shared a few tips to encourage maximum safety on every single trip.
“We encourage all riders to familiarise themselves with the steps to take before entering a vehicle, including checking the drivers’ photo and licence number, as well as utilising the optional PIN verification safety feature.”
Lead Image: Getty/TikTok
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