A California woman is issuing a warning to any ride-share passengers to watch out for this Uber potential scam.

In the TikTok, Jade Lopez (@jadelllopez) reveals how an Uber driver intentionally didn’t begin the ride to try to get her to pay outside of the app. Her TikTok has generated more than 800 views as of this writing.

“I want people to look out for this, especially women,” Lopez begins. 

Lopez reveals how the Uber driver picks her up from the airport. The ride begins, however the app isn’t refreshing, reflecting that the ride has started. 

“It says he hasn’t picked me up,” she says. 

She asked the driver why the ride hadn’t started yet. 

“Oh that’s weird this never happens. Just give me your address and I can just have you Venmo me because it’s not working,” the Uber driver shares.

This didn’t feel right or safe for Lopez. She asks the driver if she can be dropped off so she can call another one. The driver mentioned he’ll take care of it with Uber and Lopez reemphasized that she isn’t going to Venmo him directly. 

Lopez believes the Uber driver does this to double-dip payment through the direct Venmo and Uber itself. 

“If someone wasn’t paying attention, he’ll get the money and Uber will also get charged,” she speculates. 

The ride is completed and moments afterward, the Uber notification with the pin to start the ride is sent to her phone. 

“It was working, he just didn’t want it too,” she shares. 

She contacted Uber support about this issue, where they did refund her ride. 

“I didn’t get charged for the ride so I guess that’s a win. Just a nightmare and people just need to look out for this. This is something the Uber drivers keep doing and it’s really unsafe,” Lopez concludes. 

Jade’s Not The Only One Dealing With This Uber-Venmo Scam 

Viewers chimed in the comment section mentioning they’ve had the same experience with Uber drivers trying to take the ride offline. 

“This happened to me! Any longer rides from Menlo Park to SF or from the airport. Has happened at least twice,” one TikTok commenter added. 

“Omg this exact thing happened to me at sfo last summer,” another added. 

“Same thing happened to me after the bars!!!” a third replied. 

Why Do Uber Drivers Want You To Venmo Directly?

The simple answer is, the driver will get more money directly into their pockets when the ride is taken offline. Considering that Uber drivers make between $15 to $25 an hour on average, the payout can be low as $3 per trip. 

One driver shared that Uber will take between 50-80% of the trip’s money. Additionally, a NerdWallet reporter drove Uber as an experiment and made $10.49 an hour.

This is one of the reasons Uber drivers have decided to make ride offers and deals outside of the app to make extra money on the trip. 

Some customers are all about this strategy and believe both sides win. By doing this, the customer saves money and the driver makes more money. However, not everyone is buying into this as safety risks increase.

Why Is It Risky For Both The Driver and Passenger To Take The Uber Ride Offline?

When the customer cancels the trip and does the payment directly, the Uber tracking software is disabled. What was once a tracked ride now is unmonitored. Without the proper tracking and surveillance, the driver has no accountability from Uber and can do whatever they please. 

This leaves the passenger alone with the driver where the driver is in complete control of the ride. The customer will hope the driver does no funny business happens although that is not always the case.

During 2017 to 2022, a New York Times investigation found that Uber had more than 400,000 sexual assault complaints. One podcast from the New York Times shared that this means every eight minutes someone is sexually assaulted during an Uber ride. 

With this alarming number of sexual assault cases, it makes sense for customer especially woman to not want to complete a ride outside of the app. 

While the driver can earn a few extra bucks, it could lead to his employment termination. Any type of maneuver like this can easily get your employment terminated. 

According to Uber, “Accepting trip or delivery requests without the intention to complete them, including causing users to cancel.” is considered a fraudulent act. 

Additionally, “Intentionally requesting, accepting, or completing fraudulent or falsified trips or deliveries.” Both of these points can apply for the situation the TikToker got put in as the driver purposely didn’t confirm the pickup and requested Venmo payment directly.  

While yes, the driver can earn more for each ride by doing this, but they could get fired if caught. 

MotorBiscuit has contacted Jade Lopez via Instagram and TikTok direct message and Uber has been contacted via email. We’ll update this if either responds.