Mandy Tay, a netizen believed to be a regular customer of Uber, has hurled accusations over what she describes as an “Uber scam,” where she claims Uber made unauthorised charges of over $2,100 that was withdrawn from a credit card she had linked to her Uber account.
In a letter, Mandy Tay warned fellow Uber users to be wary of linking their credit cards with Uber and indicated that she was not provided adequate customer service support from the private hire transport service provider:
I am a victim of a Uber scam & want to share my experience so others needn’t fall prey.
I received a notification for a booking that I did not make & that the Uber driver was on the way to pick me.
I contacted the only tel no. available on Uber website.
The Customer Service told me that she couldn’t assist & that I had to e-mail them.
Told her that by the time I e-mailed & for them to react, that ride would have ended & I couldn’t access my Uber account.
She insisted the only option was to write in.
I e-mailed Uber immediately & they replied 2 hours later, asking for verification which I sent immediately.
I did not receive any more rides alert but 5 days later I realised a total of $2,100+ was charged to my card & all the rides were from UK.
Some costing as much as SG$578/trip.
I called the bank to cease my card & went to the police station to file a report & they advised me to notify Uber.
As there was no hotline for riders, the Customer Service instructed me to go to their main branch.
Upon arrival, the staffs said there was nothing they could do as they only handled drivers & all the transactions were not in SG.
I was furious as I perceived Uber as a whole, regardless if I was a driver, rider or if the transactions were incurred overseas & why the Customer Service told me to go to their office if they couldn’t assist.
I was told by both the Uber staffs & the police that there were already several cases reported & some of the cases exceeded $10,000.
So my friends, take my case as a lesson learnt & don’t be the next victim.
When contacted, an Uber spokesperson told The Independent that it is reaching out to Tay to assist her. The organisation added that while the organisation does not comment on individual cases, Tay’s experience could have been caused by a myriad reasons and that they are monitoring the situation:
“We do not comment on individual cases due to our privacy policies which protect both riders and drivers. Our team will review the incident and address it accordingly. However, it is important to stress that there are myriad reasons why this could occur – including whether the user is maintaining good habits in safeguarding personal information security, whether the device has been compromised, or even issues with the financial institution and its products. It would not be right to speculate, but we will continue to monitor the issue closely. Riders are encouraged to contact our 24/7 customer support team through the in-app HELP, Account and Payment Options, or online through Account and Payment Options, should they suspect that their account has been compromised.”