Reports suggest Uber accounts are being traded on the black market to unlicensed drivers

Dutch junior transport minister Steintje Van Van Veldhoven has called for the ministry’s inspectors to investigate claims that Uber drivers are trading their accounts to unlicensed drivers to work on the platform. It was highlighted in the Dutch News, the ease of which an unlicensed driver can access an Uber driver’s account and pick up customers. Van Veldhoven has said that it is up to Uber to make sure drivers accounts cannot be traded and expects the tech giants to do all they can to prevent unlicensed drivers from gaining access to licensed drivers accounts. A report by AT5 showed that taking over a drivers account simply required a mail address, password and confirmation code which could be passed on easily to unlicensed drivers with their own phone. Earlier in September 2018, NBC reported the same scam which was taking place in the United States which allowed unlicensed drivers to pose as ride-hailing drivers, leaving passengers unable to spot fake drivers. Undercover work by NBC discovered that Uber accounts were being sold on the black market for as much as $200 per week. Clients paid brokers to set up accounts and the renters then linked to their bank accounts. The fake drivers would keep any money they made from driving passengers around.