Ride Share Driver Scam

Any type of contractor or freelancer should beware this phishing scam.

Who Is It Targeting: Ride share drivers, other freelancers

What Is It: Phishing scam that appears to come from the company

What Are They After: The current shift to a freelancer work flow means a lot of people can make extra income rather easily. The contractor-based status of companies like Lyft, Uber, and others means you earn income for the work you do, but you’re not actually an employee of the company.

The Better Business Bureau has been notified of a scam targeting ride share drivers. It appears as a spoofed message or email from corporate, telling the driver to update his information in order to keep his status current. Failure to update the profile—thereby turning over your information to anonymous strangers who do not work for the company—will supposedly result in termination of your account and the loss of your income.

How Can You Avoid It:

• Any time there appears to be a problem with any account, do not click through the email or text.
• Instead, get out of the message entirely and visit your account through your web browser.
• You can also call the company directly and ask to speak to someone about your account.

Find more information about current scams and alerts here. For full details of this scam check out this article from BBB.org.

If you think you may be a victim of identity theft, contact the Identity Theft Resource Center for toll-free, no-cost assistance at (888) 400-5530.