Some Uber Drivers Use Bogus Identities and Shared Accounts

An anonymous reader shares a report: Uber faced a blow on Monday when London regulators refused to renew the ride-hailing company's operating permit because of safety concerns. The biggest issue lawmakers cited was drivers using false identities as they ferried unsuspecting passengers. At least 14,000 trips were made by unauthorized drivers, according to city regulator Transport for London. The way it worked is this: A number of drivers would share one account, and whenever one of them went out to drive, they'd upload their own photo to fool passengers. The unauthorized drivers were able to pose as vetted, licensed and insured, when often they weren't. Turns out, the issue of fraudulent Uber drivers isn't isolated to London.

Instances of unauthorized drivers, including convicted felons, being on the Uber app have surfaced in other cities, including San Francisco, Houston and Boston. Sometimes drivers reportedly used another person's license and Social Security number to sign up for the ride-hailing service. Other times they used fake names. And on some occasions they bought bogus identities on the internet. "For bad actors, it's not hard to circumvent Uber's signup process since it's designed to get drivers onboarded as quickly as possible and with as little hassle as possible," said Harry Campbell, a ride-hail driver who runs the popular Rideshare Guy blog. "From time to time, Uber uses a 'selfie check' to verify the driver, but it's not clear how accurate this method is."