You Cannot Call Uber to Report Credit Card Uber Fraud

Swiping a credit card to commit Uber fraud seems like such a hokey thing to do. There are so many other ways to utilize a stolen credit card than hopping into an Uber for a 15-minute ride. I mean, you could be buying $1,000 bags at Henri Bendel, which is what a Sacramento waitress in Midtown managed to do after I lunched at a sushi place on J Street. Or, a thief could purchase diamonds or bitcoin or maybe a semi-automatic rifle. Crooks are stupid. If they had any brains, they wouldn’t have to be a crook.

When I woke up yesterday morning, there was an email and a text message waiting for me from my bank asking if I had authorized a $33.20 Uber ride. There was also a second Uber charge. I immediately went about trying to call Uber to report the theft. My bank said somebody stole my credit information and opened a fake account at Uber.

Since I have an Uber account and my last Uber ride was in June, I thought it was odd that the bank would contact me about it. There must have been some other reason the bank felt it was suspicious. I dunno, maybe because Uber fraud is on the rise. Found many links about Uber fraud through Google. But no way to contact Uber. Well, you can email, but you know what happens to emails. Oops. Time for lunch, oh shoot, deleted.

Jumped on Twitter and sent a tweet to @support_uber. They asked me to follow them and promised to direct message but I got nothing after that. So, I hopped on Facebook and found several Uber Facebook pages. Not much came from that except I found a bit of solace that other people were victims of Uber fraud as well. Misery loves company.

Like I explained to my bank, I almost feel like paying their Uber bill just so I don’t have to replace my credit card and notify 50 vendors of my new credit card information. But if the crooks use it for Uber, they will use their new-found “wealth” elsewhere. This time, I have been fraud-free for almost two years. It is painful to realize we are all marks. Nothing is safe. And Uber doesn’t seem to give a damn about its customers. If they had contacted me yesterday, probably could have nabbed the crooks.

As a result, I called my bank a second time at the end of the day when I could not get Uber to respond. By that time, there were two more Uber charges on my card for a total of four trips. Turns out the charges were made in The Netherlands, which my bank says is Uber’s corporate office. So I suspect they noted international charges when I am using my card on vacation in Hawaii. No international hotels. No international meals. Tip off.

Speaking of tips . . .

TIP: Our exclusive buyer’s agent Josh Almolsch informs me that Lyft is cheaper than Uber. He doesn’t even use Uber anymore.