Fake Uber drivers robbing people in New Orleans

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On Friday at about 2 a.m., New Orleans police responded to a call in the French Quarter. A 24-year-old man had gotten into what he thought was his ride-hailing vehicle in the 200 block of Royal Street. Instead of driving him to his destination, the two women in the vehicle pulled out a gun and took his wallet and phone, police said.

It was one of at least five instances since May of police logging complaints of robbers posing as drivers for ride-hailing services such as Uber or Lyft: three in the Central Business District, one in the French Quarter and one in the Fontainebleau neighborhood. All the drivers were women, and in all but one instance, they were armed with guns.

The official reports might understate the number of such crimes. A Houston man says he did not call police after he was robbed and assaulted by a fake ride-hailing driver who picked him up in the French Quarter last month.

“I didn’t file a report,” said the victim, who did not want his name mentioned for professional reasons. “I went to the hospital and drove straight back to Houston.”

Crimes committed by bogus ride-hail drivers are rare. Still, they have happened in many U.S. cities - and can go beyond robbery: In 2019, a University of South Carolina student was stabbed to death after she got into a car that she thought was the Uber she booked.

In New Orleans to visit friends from college, the Houston man left Pat O’Brien's bar on Jan. 2 at about 3 a.m. and hailed a ride via a phone app. Two women driving a car that appeared to be the same make and model as the one shown on the app pulled up. He got in.

He doesn’t remember what happened next.

“I didn’t confirm the license plate,” he said. “I got in and kind of went black from there.”

When the man woke up, he was outside the Caesars Superdome, bleeding from the head. His Rolex watch, phone, debit and credit cards were missing. A trip to the emergency room at Touro Infirmary showed a minor concussion.

Meanwhile, the robbers had accessed his stock brokerage app, transferred money and bought Visa gift cards. He estimates his total property loss at $25,000. He’s most upset about losing his late grandfather’s watch.

“It’s very sentimental, not something I would surrender if I wasn’t scared for my life,” he said.

'Y'all aren't our Lyft driver'
Two days earlier, another man, a graphic designer from New Orleans, was ready to head home at around 3:30 a.m. after a night out with two friends barhopping in the French Quarter.

“I ordered a Lyft, and it was a white SUV that was supposed to pick us up,” he said. “So when a white SUV pulled up and [two women] said, ‘Hey, we’re here to pick you up,’ I didn’t think twice about it, and we got in the car.”

The man realized something was wrong when his actual Lyft driver called his phone asking where he was.

“I tried to stay calm,” he said. “Freaking out wouldn't have done any good.”

Trying not to betray that he knew something was wrong, while also wanting to extricate his friends from a dangerous situation, the man asked the women to stop at a drugstore so he could buy water. They complied. From inside the store, he called his friends and alerted them; one exited the vehicle, but the other refused to leave.

“We were a little intoxicated,” the man said. “I wasn’t going to leave him alone, because God knows what could have happened to him.”

The man withdrew money from an ATM and offered it to the drivers. “I said, ‘I know y’all are not our Lyft driver. I need you to drop us off at this intersection.'”

The women took the money but asked for more, which he denied. After the man and his friends exited the SUV near his Lower Garden District apartment building, he discovered that his phone and credit cards were missing.

The thieves sold all his cryptocurrency investments via the Coinbase platform, opened an Apple credit card account and racked up debt on his existing credit cards. They stole about $20,000 worth of goods and cash, he said.

“I have had to file for identity theft, change all my passwords, cancel my cards, order new cards, buy a new phone and pay capital gains tax on those investments on Coinbase," he said.

He filed a police report but said he never received a call back, and police never came by his apartment.

New Orleans police have another such crime under investigation, involving two women posing as Uber drivers in the 4100 block of State Street on Jan. 2 at about 3:50 p.m. Police spokesperson Gary Scheets said he did not know if an arrest had been made.

Scheets encouraged people to be aware of their surroundings.

“If using a ride-share app, pay attention to the feature that shows the name of the driver, along with a photo. That information should also include the make, model, color and license plate of the vehicle,” Scheets said. “If a different driver and vehicle arrive, cancel the ride. If the individual feels threatened or unsafe, they should call 911 immediately to report the incident.”

Uber offers similar advice.

The Houston man said he will triple-check his ride-booking drivers in the future. As Mardi Gras season revelers take to the streets and book late-night rides, he hopes they do the same.

“The best I can do is spread more awareness and save somebody else from this happening to them,” he said.

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