Vomit fraud

Last updated

Vomit fraud is a type of fraud in which a driver of a vehicle for hire falsely claims that an "incident requiring cleanup" occurred while a passenger was riding in the driver's vehicle. The company then charges the passenger a "cleanup fee" to reimburse the driver for having to clean the vehicle.

Contents

History

The Miami Herald first reported on the issue in July 2018. [1] Passengers may face a fee of up to US$150 for causing incidents requiring significant cleanups of drivers' vehicles. [2] By filing false reports of these incidents, drivers will receive the cleanup fees from the customers even though no incident occurred. [3]

Criminality

Due to company-friendly terms of service typically agreed to by passengers, police departments have been reluctant to press criminal charges against individuals who engage in the fraud, instead treating these cases as civil matters. However, in late October 2018, a Harwood, North Dakota, man who had driven for both Uber and Lyft was charged with two counts of attempted theft of property for two separate instances of false cleanup claims. In one instance, the man was caught on surveillance video purchasing food, throwing it on the inside and outside of his vehicle, taking photos of the alleged damage, then running the vehicle through a car wash, all after he had already dropped his passenger off at his destination. [4]

Related Research Articles

Insurance fraud is any act committed to defraud an insurance process. It occurs when a claimant attempts to obtain some benefit or advantage they are not entitled to, or when an insurer knowingly denies some benefit that is due. According to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, the most common schemes include premium diversion, fee churning, asset diversion, and workers compensation fraud. Perpetrators in the schemes can be insurance company employees or claimants. False insurance claims are insurance claims filed with the fraudulent intention towards an insurance provider.

The 2005 Glendale train crash occurred on January 26, 2005, at 6:03 a.m. PST, when a Metrolink commuter train collided with a sport utility vehicle that had been parked on the tracks by a suicidal man in an industrial area north of downtown Los Angeles, California, causing the deaths of eleven people and injuring 177.

The taxicabs of the United States make up a mature system; most U.S. cities have a licensing scheme which restricts the number of taxicabs allowed. As of 2012 the total number of taxi cab drivers in the United States is 233,900; the average annual salary of a taxi cab driver is $22,820 and the expected percent job increase over the next 10 years is 16%.

The Cabcharge account payment system was established in 1976 to provide taxi passengers a way to pay for taxi fares by non-cash means. The payment system is owned and operated by A2B Australia, an Australian Securities Exchange listed public company. In the UK and Singapore, Cabcharge is operated by subsidiaries of ComfortDelGro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taxis of Australia</span> Transport vehicles for hire

Taxis in Australia are highly regulated by each Australian state and territory, with each state and territory having its own history and structure. In December 2014, there were 21,344 taxis in Australia. Taxis in Australia are required to be licensed and are typically required to operate and charge on a fitted taximeter. Taxi fare rates are set by State or Territory governments. A vehicle without a meter is generally not considered to be a taxi, and may be described, for example, as a hire car, limousine, carpool, etc. Most taxis today are fueled by liquid petroleum gas. A2B Australia owns and operates the Cabcharge payment system, which covers 98% of taxis in Australia, and operates one of Australia's largest taxi networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyft</span> American ride-sharing company

Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand at the time of the booking and are quoted to the customer in advance, and receives a commission from each booking. Lyft is the second-largest ridesharing company in the United States after Uber.

Crystal Gail Mangum is a former exotic dancer and convicted murderer from Durham, North Carolina, who is best known for having made false allegations of rape against lacrosse players in the 2006 Duke lacrosse case. The fact that Mangum was a black woman working in the sex industry, while the accused were all white men, created extensive media interest and academic debate about race, class, gender and the politicization of the justice system.

In the United States, Medicare fraud is the claiming of Medicare health care reimbursement to which the claimant is not entitled. There are many different types of Medicare fraud, all of which have the same goal: to collect money from the Medicare program illegitimately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridesharing company</span> Online vehicle for hire service

A ridesharing company is a company that, via websites and mobile apps, matches passengers with drivers of vehicles for hire that, unlike taxicabs, cannot legally be hailed from the street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ola Cabs</span> Indian multinational ridesharing company

Ola Cabs is an Indian multinational ridesharing company, headquartered in Bangalore. It also operates in other business verticals including financial services and cloud kitchens.

Many communities, governments, and organizations have established rules and regulations that specifically govern ridesharing companies. In some jurisdictions, for-profit ridesharing operations are completely illegal. Regulations can include requirements for driver background checks, fares, the number of drivers, and licensing.

Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by Uber in 2014. Meals are delivered by couriers using cars, scooters, bikes, or on foot. It is operational in over 6,000 cities across 45 countries as of 2021.

On December 28, 2017, a fatal swatting incident occurred in Wichita, Kansas, United States. During an online dispute between Casey Viner and Shane Gaskill, regarding the video game Call of Duty: WWII, Viner threatened to have Gaskill swatted. Gaskill responded by giving him a false address for his residence, one that was occupied by an uninvolved person, Andrew Finch. Viner then asked Tyler Barriss to make the required fraudulent call to initiate the swatting. Wichita Police responded to the address, and as Finch was exiting his house, police officer Justin Rapp fatally shot him.

The death of Elaine Herzberg was the first recorded case of a pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car, after a collision that occurred late in the evening of March 18, 2018. Herzberg was pushing a bicycle across a four-lane road in Tempe, Arizona, United States, when she was struck by an Uber test vehicle, which was operating in self-drive mode with a human safety backup driver sitting in the driving seat. Herzberg was taken to the local hospital where she died of her injuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Samantha Josephson</span> 2019 murder in South Carolina, USA

The murder of Samantha Josephson, a student at University of South Carolina, in Columbia, South Carolina, occurred on March 29, 2019. Josephson, 21, had ordered an Uber and mistakenly entered a car that she thought was her ride. Nathaniel Rowland used childproof locks to prevent Josephson from leaving the vehicle and kidnapped and murdered her, leaving her body near New Zion, South Carolina – 65 miles (105 km) from Columbia, where she had entered Rowland's car.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Totnes bus crash</span> Bus crash in Devon, England, UK

The 2019 Totnes bus crash was a single-vehicle collision on the A385 road at Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England on 5 October 2019. More than 50 people – including the driver – were injured when a double-decker bus overturned at high speed between Totnes and Paignton. Eight passengers suffered injuries described as "serious" out of 37 requiring hospitalisation; though there were no fatalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sin City Deciples Motorcycle Club</span> Outlaw motorcycle club

The Sin City Deciples Motorcycle Club, also known as Sin City Nation, is a mixed race one-percenter outlaw motorcycle club. As one of the most well-known and oldest black outlaw motorcycle clubs in the United States, they have multiple chapters across the nation and have an additional presence in Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America. Additionally, the organization has many support clubs in across the U.S. in select states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disabled parking permits of the United States</span>

In the United States, reserved spaces are mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines.

Anthony Enrique Gignac is a convicted American (Colombian-born) fraudster and con artist. In a career spanning 30 years, Gignac used wealthy, high-ranking personas, most notably that of Saudi prince Khalid bin Al Saud, to fraudulently secure investment in a series of schemes that he presented as being backed by a large personal fortune. After defrauding funds of $8.1 million from investors, Gignac was arrested in 2017 after billionaire Jeffery Soffer, the owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel, became suspicious of the supposed Muslim prince ordering pork at a restaurant. He was jailed for over 18 years in 2019.

References

  1. Ocner, Matias J.; Ruiz, Catalina; Medina, Esther (July 22, 2018). "It's called vomit fraud. And it could make your Uber trip really expensive". Miami Herald .
  2. "Understanding Uber fees: The cancellation fee, cleaning fee, and more". Ridesharing Driver. May 29, 2019.
  3. Pascus, Brian (July 23, 2018). "Some Uber passengers are reportedly getting hit with $150 fines after drivers allegedly commit 'vomit fraud'". Insider. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  4. McFeely, Mike (November 3, 2018). "Harwood man charged in 'vomit fraud' cases". INFORUM. Retrieved 2019-11-20.