In October 2015, there were reports that Uber drivers in China deliberately went offline to create artificial shortages and jack up fare in key Chinese cities.
The latest scam involves Halloween with Uber drivers sporting zombie makeup to scare passengers. Upon seeing the scary profile photos of the Uber drivers, some passengers back out of the deal and cancel which gives the driver the right to charge them a cancellation fee ranging from 8 to 15 yuan.
The scam has been reported in Tianjin, Qingdao, Xiamen, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou and Suzhou, according to NBD News.
For passengers who were not scared by the ghost or zombie makeup of their ride-hailing drivers, they complained that the drivers started their trips on the app before they rode the vehicle which added a few yuan to their fare, Quartz reported. Another scam is for the driver to cancel the trip which means the passenger has to pay the Uber driver a few yuan, adding in turn to the number of trips made by the driver, pointed out Sixth Tone.
The gouging by drivers could be because of the reduction of their subsidies provided by Uber before to use the ride-hailing platform. It used to be up to 300 yuan for every 30 trips and 400 yuan for every 40 trips but was reduced in June. By having shorter but more trips, Uber drivers stand to earn more than having longer trips.
Zhuang Chunhi, from the public relations department of Uber China, said the company is working to stop those anomalous transactions. The transport firm is collecting all kinds of evidence against erring drivers and would pass it on to the public security department.
Zhuang added that cab riders fleeced by abusive Uber drivers should report the incident to customer service so they could be refunded their fare.