Being a gig worker as a primary source of income can be risky business. With the ever-changing face of tech, from rules and regulations to companies going under, you can lose your job at the drop of a hat. Drivers for Uber have been dealing with this exact situation; MarketWatch details reports of drivers having their accounts suspended over what Uber suspects are fraudulent activities.
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One of the most common instances of fraud on Uber is account splitting. This is when two people drive for the app under a single person’s account. The action can get the account deactivated, and Uber takes it very seriously. But sometimes accounts that did nothing wrong are targeted and deactivated. MarketWatch spoke to one man who invested over $100,000 to start driving for Uber Black only to have his account deactivated after Uber suspected him of account splitting; his account was reactivated only after MarketWatch contacted them. After that, 30 more people came forward with the same claims: their accounts were wrongly deactivated, and nothing was being done to stop it.
Many of these people were veteran Uber drivers that were on the platform for years. But they all shared the same things in common: their accounts had been deactivated, some more than once, and Uber wasn’t clear on the reasons why.
Like Seattle driver Christian Shibeshi. Shibeshi’s primary source of income was Uber and had been for the previous eight years. He recently dropped $65,000 on a 2020 Cadillac Escalade to drive for Uber Black. But his world was turned upside down when his account was deactivated in November 2020. Uber suspected him of account splitting.
“I would never risk my income this way. My life is totally dependent on Uber,” Shibeshi said he told the company. It was six months before his account was reactivated, during which he says he had to rely on food stamps and other assistance for his wife, their son, and himself.
The problem comes from drivers having two devices, something multiple drivers confirmed to MarketWatch was common place. The drivers’ theory is if something happens to one device, the other will act as a backup so they can keep driving. But Uber is strict about signing in on multiple devices, requiring drivers to take picture of themselves during a second sign in. If the app or Uber feels that picture doesn’t look enough like you, the account is flagged as fraudulent and is deactivated.
Uber spokesperson Austen Radcliff said 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 it that way and are often left with more questions than answers, especially when it comes to other circumstances surrounding deactivation.
Drivers say they’ve been deactivated for things like safety reports, fraud triggers or a “pattern of submitting fraudulent documents.” There is human support to help drivers get their accounts back, but drivers say that they’re often not on the same page. One thing is for certain: if Uber doesn’t find a system to better ensure that what many of these drivers are doing isn’t fraud, more and more drivers will find their income streams interrupted, and they’ll be hung out to dry.
“This has kind of left me scared and unsure what the future holds as to purchasing a more expensive car to offer better service. I don’t know if or when they might decide to deactivate me again,” one driver said.