With the responsibility of connecting more than 30 million people and deliveries every day, our platform is built on trust. That’s why we continuously strengthen our systems to help keep Uber safe and fair for all. 

While no system is perfect, we’ve built industry-leading processes and technology to verify the identities of couriers who deliver with us, and prevent fraudsters from gaining access to our platform. It’s not just the right thing to do for couriers, but also for consumers who deserve to know who they might meet at their door. 

Keeping Uber both easy-to-use and strong enough to defend against fraud takes constant vigilance. Bad actors will always look for ways to circumvent policies and exploit apps like ours in order to make money. This is challenging work that we’re committed to for the long haul. 

Today we’re sharing an updated overview of our existing processes and technology in the U.S. including enhancements we’re putting in place this year to help to maintain a safe, trustworthy platform. 

Safeguarding Identity at Onboarding 

The foundation of a safe marketplace is a robust process for creating new accounts. At Uber, we take the following steps—failing at any point in the process means being barred from doing deliveries on our platform. 

  • Multi-step Screening Process: All couriers who use Uber must meet numerous eligibility requirements, including passing a criminal and driving history background check*, being 18 or over, providing a photo ID, and holding a valid Social Security number. 
  • Document Verification: We leverage our own technology and rely on external partners to verify the authenticity of documents. For example, courier Social Security numbers are validated against IRS databases and we have recently expanded partnerships with identity verification vendors to add increased document checks for US couriers. 
  • Profile Photo Validation: We require all couriers to add a profile photo and use both technology and human review to help us establish that the photo is real, accurate and matches the identity document. Beginning this month, we will expand the use of third party technology to enhance our ability to detect profile photo fraud.
  • Combating Repeat Offenders: To keep those who’ve been banned from Uber before from rejoining the app, we’ve built technology that looks for signups using information, documents and profile photos associated with a previously deactivated account. 

Ongoing Fraud Prevention and Account Integrity

Once a courier has passed our signup checks and begins delivering, our work doesn’t stop. 

In the US, it’s our policy that only couriers registered to use the Uber Eats platform and approved by our screening process are permitted to carry out deliveries. We explicitly prohibit any sharing or renting of accounts in our Community Guidelines. 

We take the following measures to help confirm that each delivery is completed by the courier who the account belongs to:

  • Ongoing Background Checks: Uber reruns criminal and motor vehicle checks (for couriers driving cars) every year and also checks for new criminal records on an ongoing basis to ensure couriers remain eligible to deliver. 
  • Real-Time ID Checks: Because sharing accounts is not permitted, it’s long been our policy that couriers are regularly prompted to take a selfie that we match against their verified profile photo. We avoid predictability by triggering these checks at different times—for example, sometimes when a courier goes online and other times between deliveries. If the photos don’t match or fraud is detected, the account is temporarily blocked from going online and may be deactivated, depending on our review. 

  • Intelligent Fraud Monitoring: Over time we’ve built a smart system to identify risk signals of fraud or account sharing—like multiple devices being registered to one account—which increases the triggering of Real-Time ID Checks for that courier. In 2025, we will enhance and expand this technology using machine learning models to detect even more risk patterns and data signals that could indicate a user is not the account owner.
  • Consumer Reporting: Consumers and merchants always see a picture of their courier and can report suspected account sharing directly in their app at any time. All reports from consumers lead to a courier needing to reverify their account.     
  • Human Review Process: Where our technology detects a potential fraud, trained agents conduct a multi-step review process to ensure accuracy and fairness before any action or deactivation of the account occurs. It’s our responsibility to ensure that our processes are fair, accurate, and transparent. This is why couriers have the ability to request a review of an account deactivation and provide additional information to support their case.

Resources for Couriers and Consumers

Uber Eats remains committed to supporting all couriers in meeting our requirements. Couriers can access resources and guidance, including details on required documents, background checks, and ID verification in the Uber Driver app and online.

Consumers who want to report the wrong courier can do so here or using the Uber Eats app.

*Motor vehicle check only applies to couriers using a car or motorcycle to deliver.