A reader shared a frustrating and expensive experience at Chicago O’Hare that highlights what may be the latest Uber scam, and why one simple setting can save you a lot of money and aggravation.
The Latest Uber Scam And How A PIN Can Stop It
The incident happened during a late-night pickup at Chicago O’Hare. The reader requested an Uber, waited at the designated pickup area, and received a notification that the driver had arrived. But the driver never showed up. While the reader was still looking for the car, the trip suddenly started.
Confused, the reader messaged the driver, who responded about ten minutes later claiming he had picked up the wrong passenger. He said he would come back. Instead, the driver ended the trip, the reader was charged $23, and the driver disappeared. Uber’s system showed the ride ending on the side of a highway, even though the reader never entered the vehicle. After five hours, Uber support still had not responded.
This is not a simple mistake. It appears to be a deliberate tactic (and looking online, not so uncommon…). By starting the trip without the correct passenger and then ending it elsewhere, the driver triggers a fare while avoiding providing any actual service. The burden then shifts to the rider to dispute the charge and wait for support to intervene.
The vulnerability here is that Uber allows a driver to start a trip once they believe the passenger is onboard. In crowded pickup zones like major airports, it is easy for a driver to claim confusion, pick up the wrong person, or simply start the trip without anyone in the car.
Once the trip has officially begun, the clock is running. If the driver ends it shortly afterward, the rider may still be charged a base fare or minimum trip amount. At that point, resolution depends entirely on Uber support, which is often slow, automated, or unresponsive, especially during overnight hours.
The Simple Fix: Turn On Ride PIN Verification
There is a straightforward way to protect yourself. Uber allows riders to require a four-digit PIN before a driver can start the trip. When this feature is enabled, the driver must enter the PIN shown in your app before the ride can begin. No PIN, no trip.
This setting is especially useful in busy pickup areas like airports, concerts, or nightlife districts where drivers can plausibly claim confusion. It removes ambiguity and prevents a driver from starting a ride unless you are physically present.
To enable it, open the Uber app, go to Settings, select Safety, and turn on Ride PIN. You can choose to require it for all rides or only for nighttime trips.
CONCLUSION
This O’Hare incident is a good reminder that not every Uber issue is an innocent mistake. Whether driven by carelessness or intent, riders are increasingly exposed to charges for trips that never happened. Requiring a PIN is a small inconvenience that can prevent a much bigger headache.
If you frequently use Uber at airports or late at night, turning on PIN verification is one of the easiest ways to make sure your ride does not start without you, and that you are not left disputing charges while standing curbside with no driver in sight.
images: Uber
Very helpful. Thanks Matthew!
Great tip. The most concerning thing is how Uber has absolutely no customer service left whatsoever. They simply will not respond to any tickets or submissions. And there is not even a number to call. Perhaps exactly why so many drivers do this now as they know they can get away with it.
+1, this is a very helpful article. I love it when you share useful tips.
“Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci –
Unfortunately sophisticated drivers know they can use the last 4 digits of your phone number associated with your uber account. Within the US it is not a problem , however in Mexico for example, the uber driver can see your number, and can start the ride without it.
It’s actually a random number for rides, last 4 phone is only for Uber eats food delivery, I a residential building and have to do this all the time lol
Don’t have that on my App, must be for USA customers with a US credit card only….. ?? I’m on an Australian card
Maybe? That’s odd.
I’m in AU and added it after reading this tip. Go to Settings/Safety/verify your ride.
I traveled to Medellin, Colombia last September, which was the first time that I saw the PIN, which was required for all fares.
I have seen it once back in the U.S., and it is probably wise to require it all the time.
What a baseless poorly written article. The wrong passenger gets into an uber sometimes.
Driver : Doug ?
Passenger : yes hello
Driver gets message from actual passenger saying I don’t see you.
Driver : This isn’t your uber. Your name is Doug right ?
Wrong passemger : no I’m not Doug
Driver : you told me you were. Get out of my car I’m not your uber.
Your friend will get their $23 refunded. Poor journalism Matthew the logic just wasn’t there on this one.
You not knowing that a scam exists doesn’t make reporting about it poor journalism. Sometimes drivers actually drive right past and mark a rider picked up without stopping at all, and without anyone getting in the car. It’s a known problem (so it sounds like the only missing logic here is your own).
That one is at least preventable by using the PIN as mentioned – Uber also isn’t helpful with dropoff behavior that is probably a different scam or at best incorrect billing. When my driver forgot or “forgot” to mark me as dropped off, they rejected several requests to not be charged for the extra hour or so he kept driving around until he stopped at a liquor store in a far-off corner of a completely different quadrant of DC. They would have had location data to show that my phone and I stopped moving after reaching the restaurant where I was correctly dropped off, but they kept dismissing my attempts to not be charged for services neither requested nor received, claiming I had already received too many refunds (where the only time they had ever previously reversed charges was from a non-pickup when my location data would have clearly shown I wasn’t in the car). Eventually I got them to back down, but they were incredibly nasty about it and dragged it out for so long that I am guessing they get to keep money from a decent percentage of passengers giving up.
What a baseless poorly written comment.
I am the one this occurred with. It is now 27 hours later and no response from Uber. In this day and age to not have a number or any instant support is outrageous. I have submitted three tickets. Not one has recieved a reply.
As to your scenario. Sure, that’s fine. Accidents do happen. However, that is not what happened. In actuality I showed this to a really pro Uber black driver today who drove me back to ORD and he pointed something out, “He actually went to the upper level Premier check in. It states that’s where he did the pick up according to the app. There is no pickup there. it’s only allowed on the LL Door 1D and all you can select. In fact, it’s illegal to pick up at departures and he was experienced and knew that. He just went there to show he was ‘there” but really was not. He then started the ride and left with no passenger.” He also mentioned this is becoming a common scam with drivers.
Finally, it was a big deal for me. It cost me an additional 35 minutes to get another car as traffic was insane and cars were short. My time is important. Especially when this was needless, callous, and clearly a scam. Further, it was a great learning experience in discovering the use of the four digit code and I am glad Matthew shared it. As you can see from the comments everyone but you is also glad to know this tip to avoid these things in the future.
Given your limited experience your critique is unfounded. A driver should be able to do a little better than that to verify they have the right person when picking up. Starting the ride without the passenger is an intentional tactic done by unscrupulous drivers called “ghost rides” to generate ill gotten gains quickly. 10 years and over 20K trips, I’ve only picked up 2 people who were the wrong passengers and quickly sorted it in the first 2 minutes of the trip. An ethical driver would either go back and pick up the correct person or cancel the ride without charge but there are many unethical drivers out there (mirroring the general population).
Lyft also has the same feature. Conversely, the driver can also request a pin to make sure they game the correct passenger.
I’ve used the four-digit code for a while now and have never had any issues like this with Uber. It should come standard, not just an opt-in.
Hi Uber driver here, if you have the pin turned on we are able to bypass it with an option “rider can’t find pin”. Best thing is to always check the license plate and make sure driver looks like their photo. Also if we try starting a ride not at the picku0 location it won’t start and will tell us to continue to pickup location. Idk where you got this info but it’s all wrong.
lol so what’s the point of the PIN? Typical of Uber
Perhaps you can. I have no idea. But the reality is that even if true (not so sure as I have now witnessed the pin aspect first hand and it seems pretty solid) the rider at least has the ability to argue that they were never in the car and never provided the pin. As well, I started to screenshot the pin as further proof against anyone arguing that I couldn’t find it.
Looking forward to driverless cars taking over ride share. Pretty sad when a robot has far better ethics than an actual human being.
The 4 digit code is good. It really takes a clueless person to get into the wrong uber these days. That passenger stole your Uber and your beef should be with them. Your next uber driver that agreed with you just wanted a tip. Just chargeback your credit card. Uber takes 60% of the fare from drivers now as they are a large corporation today. Imagine their customer service. Keep us posted when you hear back. It will be a cut and paste response with a $10 credit deposited into your account
Surely the best way to avoid Uber fraud is to never use it at all. There are plenty of alternatives, all more reputable, all more reliable in any city in the world. Uber is not needed.
Thanks for the tip! In late-October, I was near Evanston, IL. I requested a ride from a Whole Foods back to my friends house. The driver never showed. I thought I was in the wrong part of the parking lot. He wouldn’t respond to texts. On my app, I saw him drive the route I requested back to my friend’s house. I was then charged for the ride. Luckily, it was under $6. I appealed to Uber. I was told this ride was not eligible for a refund. I couldn’t reach a human being to explain the situation. It was a cold night to be standing outside waiting for the driver to show.
I requested another ride. Luckily, this driver showed and took me back. I explained what had happened. He shook his head and said he never heard this happening.
I’ve now turned on PIN verification. In the Android version of the Uber app, it’s under “Verify Your Ride”.
Thanks again for the tip!
I have some doubts. I am a part time driver with years of trips I’ve taken (as driver and rider). In this story i see the loss of a rider. What i little of is gain by the driver. It appears the driver came to (or near) the pickup, the drive a bit. The driver got paid no more than if he’d actually taken that passenger (and probably less). Where’s the incentive? Might as well take that passenger. Plus there’s no tip. Plus Uber may well claw back any pay that driver received. Finally, the driver couldn’t pull this scam too many times, as Uber would punish that driver. Perhaps this scam includes several accounts set up under fake expendable names (allowing a person to do several scams at one go). In the a sense of multiple accounts, driving real people is way more profitable. Note i read a lot of posts on various social media sites with similar claims. But i just don’t see how this could be a money maker. I’m more inclined to assumes most of these stories are simple driver error.
As the person this occurred with let me help you. The driver first started the trip a few minutes before even arriving. That’s the point in that he would have seen the destination and knew that the current traffic and drive to the loop was now almost two hours (Friday 6PM). He didn’t want this, so quickly diverted to the upper level and could say ‘I’m here’ with no intent on doing the drive. After messaging back that I do not see him at all he drove away. The reality is that he STARTED the trip before getting there. His intent was to know where beforehand. Once he realized that it was going to be a two hour slog into the city he went to plan B. With that he could not just cancel the trip so drove a bit, charged me, and claimed ‘wrong passenger.”
Not all scams are direct monetary. Scams can also reflect manipulation of rides. The reality is that the PIN code is the one safeguard for whatever reason the driver may have in their gaming of the system,
Thank you Mathew,
this is very useful and i was not aware of it as i do not use Uber often. Lately i have used lyft on the airport and i was showing the rider arrived where i could not see him and he waited i waited i tried contact the number and wrote but nothing. I started suspect the scam and i did not want cancel the ride. At the end luckily this was innocent mistake as the driver was waiting one level up and later came down. The PIN works on Lyft too.
Best thing to remember is rideshare companies ARE scammers themselves and are scamming their drivers out of a livelihood. Despite what you might see from YouTube influencers, the math just doesn’t add up for actually turning a profit as a rideshare driver. The operating costs are just too high for the wages offered. But if the drivers themselves are getting fleeced by a company of soulless millionaire tech bros, don’t expect them to treat you too well. You are getting into a car with a desperate person who is probably at his wits end financially. Best advice: don’t use techy rideshare; it is in and of itself a massive venture capital scam.
I hate Uber and I can’t wait til their executives are all in jail or subject to the death penalty. They are all evil and there is a special place in hell for them next to Anthony Fauci. They don’t care about any of their drivers and all deserve what is coming to them. Karma.
Very useful tip, thanks Matthew.