NBC safety reporter Jeff Rossen posed as an Uber driver parked at night outside Los Angeles bars and restaurants and was amazed at the number of people who entered his car without first checking to see if he was their appointed Uber driver.
In the wake of reports of assaults from faux Uber drivers, he offered some simple tips to stay safe:
- Don’t give away your name. Ask the driver who he is there to pick up.
- Check the Uber app for the license place number to be sure you are about to get in the correct vehicle.
- Make sure the person behind the wheel matches the driver’s photo on the app.
Those three tips should go a long way toward avoiding disaster. Check Rossen’s article [1] for more safety tips and to watch the five-minute video of his report and reactions of passengers when realizing they were in the wrong vehicle.
See also Hey Uber, Over Here! Over Here! [2]