Becoming a gig worker as a primary source of income can be a risky business. With the ever-changing face of technology, from rules and regulations For companies that are underperforming, you can lose your job immediately. Uber drivers have dealt with exactly this situation; MarketWatch reports detailing drivers whose accounts have been suspended for what Uber suspects is fraudulent activity.
In case you lost it:
One of the most common fraud cases on Uber is account splits. This is when two people drive for the app using one’s account. This action may cause the account to be disabled and Uber is very serious. But sometimes accounts that have done nothing wrong are targeted and disabled. MarketWatch spoke to a man who invested more than $100,000 to start driving for Uber Black only to have his account disabled after Uber suspected him of splitting the account; his account was only reactivated after MarketWatch contacted them. After that, 30 more people go ahead with the same statement: their account was disabled by mistake and nothing was done to prevent it.
Many of them are veteran Uber drivers who have worked on the platform for years. But they all have one thing in common: their accounts have been disabled, some accounts more than once, and Uber isn’t sure why.
Like driver Christian Shibeshi in Seattle. Shibeshi’s main source of income is Uber and has been since 8 years ago. He recently spent $65,000 on a 2020 Cadillac Escalade to drive for Uber Black. But his world was turned upside down when his account was disabled in November 2020. Uber suspects him of splitting the account.
“I would never risk my income this way. My life is completely dependent on Uber,” Shibeshi speak he told the company. It took six months before his account was reactivated, during which time he said he had to rely on food stamps and other support for his wife, their son and himself.
The problem comes from the driver having two devices, which many drivers have confirmed MarketWatch is a popular place. The driver’s theory was that if something happened to one device, the other would act as a backup so they could continue driving. But Uber is strict about cross-device logins, requiring drivers to take a picture of themselves on the second login. If the app or Uber feels the photo doesn’t look like you, the account will be flagged as phishing and disabled.
Uber spokesman Austen Radcliff said the deactivation is serious and that the company has “processes and policies in place to ensure that the actions we take in response are proportionate and fair.” . Except that some drivers don’t see the problem that way and often raise more questions than they answer, especially when it comes to other circumstances surrounding deactivation.
Drivers said they were disabled for things like safety reporting, fraud activation or a “fraudulent document submission pattern”. Human assistance is available to help drivers get their accounts back, but drivers say they’re often not on the same page. One thing is for sure: if Uber doesn’t find a system to better ensure that what many of these drivers are doing isn’t cheating, more and more drivers will see their income streams disrupted. and they will be fired. .
“This makes me scared and unsure what the future holds when buying a more expensive car to provide better service. I don’t know if they can decide to deactivate me again or when.” a driver said.
