What new Uber Eats scam should you avoid?

It’s fair to say that Uber Eats has changed the art of dining. Why cook leftover chicken after a long day at work when some stranger on a bicycle can bring you something a little fresher?

Is this a new Uber Eats scam?

“I just asked these three guys if they used Uber because they were just sitting outside a restaurant and they just crossed the street,” Carl begins.

Dressed in cycling gear, Carl stands on a street corner and begins filming himself as he watches the whole ordeal. As he does so, Carl turns his phone’s camera to show a red sedan driving slowly down the street.

“They’re just sitting on the other side of the street,” Carl says.

Presumably, even before filming began, the participants in the incident had already confessed to Karl what they did and how they did it. According to Karl, the men deliberately delayed Uber Eats orders and therefore inflated the prices for orders from this particular restaurant.

“They can sell a $3 order down to fifty dollars,” Carl says.

He then explains exactly how this is done.

How is this scam carried out?

“With Uber, you go to a restaurant, wait 10 minutes with your order, but don’t go inside. Then you undo it,” says Carl.

Carl explains that the driver gets $3 because it was the store’s fault that the product wasn’t ready on time. This is where his explanation gets a little confusing.

“Then you have another phone and the order comes to that phone and you make it wait 10 minutes. Then you get $3 from him and tell him he’s not ready. At the same time, the order at the restaurant takes 20 minutes,” says Karl.

Essentially, as each order is canceled by one driver, it is transferred to another driver in the neighboring area. Then, according to Karl, the next driver will earn more than the first, which will lead to both massive delays in orders and an increase in overall costs.

Uber Eats addresses this issue on its website.

Uber Eats now has a little warning about this on their website. The company says that if your order takes more than 20 minutes than the scheduled wait time, it may be time to ask for a refund:

“If you have any doubts about the status of your order, please contact us for support. For orders that arrive 20+ minutes later than the estimated delivery time, we may issue refunds or Uber credits (depending on the delay) when you contact our customer service team.”

However, this does not entirely solve the problem of targeted scammers. Now Carl continues to talk about how the men around him are trying to make an extra few dollars by lingering at the store window.

Carl turns the phone over and focuses his gaze again on the men sitting in the sedan.

“Why do you have three grown men with phones in your car? It says Uber on the back of your car,” Carl says.

Carl then caught the phenomenon with his own eyes on his phone.

“I swear to God, I just saw an order for like $8 and it went out of here for like $20 or like $17,” Carl says.

Carl then calls out to the men on the other side of the road. He tells them that he himself watched the prices change. Carl tries to film one of the men as they enter the restaurant, still talking. Each time the man’s answers were almost inaudible.

“I can’t wait, man. I can’t wait,” says Carl.

Acting as if he was almost pretending to be in on a scam, Carl turns the camera around once more. Here he shows other men leaving completely.

“These guys seem to be running away. These guys are like running a (expletive) CIA operation, bro. It’s so funny, man,” says Carl.

What happens next?

The original man leaves the restaurant and Carl immediately asks him questions. Carl asks the man how much he got for finally getting the order. The man claims that the final cost of the order was $20. And judging by the expression on Karl’s face, this was a clear increase in the original price.

“It’s actually good, it’s really good,” says Carl.

Carl goes on to explain the ins and outs of the entire setup, from where the men were parked to exactly how they sat waiting in the restaurant. He asks why the other two men are still waiting outside the car even though the order has already been taken.

“Oh, probably because they will stay here, near the restaurant, just wait and commit fraud,” Karl understands.

Carl admits how much this maneuver increased his salary, but Carl still understands why it has to continue. And other commentators too.

Viewers speak out about fraud

“So people get old cold food and the restaurant gets a bad rating. What a useful way to make money,” states one commenter.

“Tell the restaurant staff about this because they will get bad reviews,” another commenter noted.

And that’s exactly what Carl did. After another attempt to interact with this group of men, Carl stops by the restaurant.

“Hey guy, has the food been sitting around long?” Carl asks: “How long? 30 minutes? Wow, the food here in Montreal lasted 30 minutes.”

In this video, Carl ends the video in complete shock at how long the food took to prepare, proving that the blame lies squarely with the scammers.

As of October 2024, the average hourly pay for an Uber Eats driver in the United States is $18.75. However, hourly wages may vary significantly. But that being said, was it worth creating this whole ordeal just to make a few extra dollars?

Probably not. But it’s good to be wary of moving forward. The next time an order takes longer than you hoped, it might be time to sign up and try to investigate on your own. Who knows what you might find.

@kingkarlemagne scam trio in action? Is it safe for food to sit at room temperature for thirty minutes or more? #canada #montreal #restaurant #uber #fooddelivery ♬ original sound – kingkarlomagne

The Daily Dot reached out to Uber Eats via Uber email. The Daily Dot also reached out to Karl (@kingkarlemagne) via TikTok comments and direct messages for comment.

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