Launching New Rider Verification Feature To Enhance Safety on the Road

At Uber, we believe we need to reimagine the way the world moves for the better. Today, there are people looking to get a ride who don’t have a credit card or access to credit. In order to ensure our platform is accessible to everyone, we allow people to use payment methods such as prepaid cards, gift cards or payment platforms such as Venmo when setting up an account.

However, we know from law enforcement and other experts that anonymous payment methods are more often linked to malicious actions or fraud which can put drivers at risk. So while the vast majority of trips end without any safety issues, we’re taking extra steps to validate these accounts. At Uber, even a single safety incident is one too many.

Starting today, we’re strengthening our rider verification process and putting more safeguards in place to validate the identity of riders who use these types of payments. This new feature requires riders who try to set-up a new account with a prepaid card, gift cards or Venmo to upload a valid ID, such as a driver’s license or passport. The ID then undergoes a series of validity checks. These additional verification requirements can act as a deterrent to those who are trying to use the app to cause harm. 

Uber uses a number of fraud detection and verification checks throughout the process of account creation, trip use, and other activity. For example, over the past several years we’ve used a feature called Social Connect globally which verifies riders using anonymous forms of payment through their social media accounts.

Over the past several years, we’ve launched a number of safety features for drivers including an Emergency Button, RideCheck and Follow My Ride. 24-7 phone support is also available right from the Help section of the Uber app. 

Working in partnership with law enforcement, we’ve also developed and sent out safety information and tips, and we have a team that works proactively with police on their investigations into crimes related to the app. 

Your safety is so important to us and we want you to have peace of mind when using Uber. We’ll continue to work to improve safety on the app because our work on safety is never done. 

Thank you for all you do for the communities you serve.