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When 11 friends are not needed
The food delivery service Uber Eats turned out to be the victim of a well-oiled fraudulent scheme, which allowed its authors to enrich themselves by $1 million (about 100 million rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate as of October 18, 2023). According to the Tech Spot portal, a group consisting of only two attackers was able to “pump” this money from Uber Eats, and it only took them a few months.
The story took place in the USA, and it centers on two residents of Florida (USA), 21-year-old Trayon Morgan and 38-year-old Roy Blackwood. They found a loophole that allowed them to enrich themselves at the expense of the company, and they exploited it since January 2022, that is, a little over a year and a half, or about 20 months.
At the time of publication, Blackwood and Morgan were charged with organizing a fraudulent scheme and grand theft. The investigation lasted eight months.
Everything ingenious is simple
A couple of scammers operated mainly in Broward and Palm Beach counties (USA). A younger member of the “gang”, Trayon Morgan, was the central character.
The scheme he and Blackwood came up with involved creating a massive array of fake accounts for Uber Eats customers and couriers. The scammer placed an order as a customer and then responded to it from the courier's profile.
In fact, all these account manipulations were necessary for scammers to fully exploit just one option that Uber Eats provides to its couriers. The company gives each of them a special prepaid card, with which they can make purchases of up to $700 to fulfill orders from the company's customers. Moreover, this amount is not divided between orders - it is provided for each of them.
After placing the order in the user's Uber Eats profile and accepting it in the courier's account, Morgan canceled it. At the same time, the $700 “courier” allocated by the company was still available, and the scammers used it to buy gift cards in various stores.
According to the information available to the police, the scale of the fraudsters' actions was enormous - for example, on one day they visited 27 Walgreens stores, purchasing gift cards worth more than $5,000.
But, if Morgan’s role in the fraudulent scheme is clear, then why Blackwood was needed in it, the investigation does not reveal. What is known is that in the investigation documents he is mentioned as the driver who took Morgan to stores where he bought gift cards.
Personal data should be protected
The actions of Morgan and Blackwood endangered more than just Uber Eats. This is one of the most famous food delivery services in the world, so the amount of $1 million is unlikely to be critical for it. Uber Eats has existed since 2014, and, according to the BusinessOfApps portal, it is the most popular service of its kind on the global market - it has 88 million users. At the end of 2022, Uber Eats revenue amounted to $10.9 billion, showing 31 percent year-on-year growth. In 2021, this figure was equal to $8.3 billion, in 2020 – $4.8 billion, in 2019 – $1.9 billion, and in 2018 and 2017. – $1.5 and $0.6 billion, respectively.
Fraudsters inflicted much greater potential damage on ordinary people - they regularly used stolen personal data to register as couriers. In some cases, they entered completely false information during registration.
According to the detectives who led the investigation, they were unraveling a fraudulent scheme involving Uber Eats employees. An arrest warrant for Morgan and Blackwood was issued on August 7, 2023, and both suspects were taken into custody a few days later. Blackwood was caught on August 16, 2023, Morgan on August 22, 2023.
The food delivery service Uber Eats turned out to be the victim of a well-oiled fraudulent scheme, which allowed its authors to enrich themselves by $1 million (about 100 million rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate as of October 18, 2023). According to the Tech Spot portal, a group consisting of only two attackers was able to “pump” this money from Uber Eats, and it only took them a few months.
The story took place in the USA, and it centers on two residents of Florida (USA), 21-year-old Trayon Morgan and 38-year-old Roy Blackwood. They found a loophole that allowed them to enrich themselves at the expense of the company, and they exploited it since January 2022, that is, a little over a year and a half, or about 20 months.
At the time of publication, Blackwood and Morgan were charged with organizing a fraudulent scheme and grand theft. The investigation lasted eight months.
Everything ingenious is simple
A couple of scammers operated mainly in Broward and Palm Beach counties (USA). A younger member of the “gang”, Trayon Morgan, was the central character.
The scheme he and Blackwood came up with involved creating a massive array of fake accounts for Uber Eats customers and couriers. The scammer placed an order as a customer and then responded to it from the courier's profile.
In fact, all these account manipulations were necessary for scammers to fully exploit just one option that Uber Eats provides to its couriers. The company gives each of them a special prepaid card, with which they can make purchases of up to $700 to fulfill orders from the company's customers. Moreover, this amount is not divided between orders - it is provided for each of them.
After placing the order in the user's Uber Eats profile and accepting it in the courier's account, Morgan canceled it. At the same time, the $700 “courier” allocated by the company was still available, and the scammers used it to buy gift cards in various stores.
According to the information available to the police, the scale of the fraudsters' actions was enormous - for example, on one day they visited 27 Walgreens stores, purchasing gift cards worth more than $5,000.
But, if Morgan’s role in the fraudulent scheme is clear, then why Blackwood was needed in it, the investigation does not reveal. What is known is that in the investigation documents he is mentioned as the driver who took Morgan to stores where he bought gift cards.
Personal data should be protected
The actions of Morgan and Blackwood endangered more than just Uber Eats. This is one of the most famous food delivery services in the world, so the amount of $1 million is unlikely to be critical for it. Uber Eats has existed since 2014, and, according to the BusinessOfApps portal, it is the most popular service of its kind on the global market - it has 88 million users. At the end of 2022, Uber Eats revenue amounted to $10.9 billion, showing 31 percent year-on-year growth. In 2021, this figure was equal to $8.3 billion, in 2020 – $4.8 billion, in 2019 – $1.9 billion, and in 2018 and 2017. – $1.5 and $0.6 billion, respectively.
Fraudsters inflicted much greater potential damage on ordinary people - they regularly used stolen personal data to register as couriers. In some cases, they entered completely false information during registration.
According to the detectives who led the investigation, they were unraveling a fraudulent scheme involving Uber Eats employees. An arrest warrant for Morgan and Blackwood was issued on August 7, 2023, and both suspects were taken into custody a few days later. Blackwood was caught on August 16, 2023, Morgan on August 22, 2023.
