From the article, this doesn’t sound like a scam specific to Uber/Ride shares.
What we know:
“an Uber driver who he wrongly thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both”
“wrongly assuming she was in on a plot to get $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said.”
“The driver fell victim to the same scammer, driving to Brock’s home between Dayton and Columbus to pick up a package for delivery, according to investigators.”
There are a lot of ways to scam people over the phone: tech-support/refund scams, Scams where legal action is threatened unless you pay (ex: IRS scams), emergency money requests from friends in trouble (ransom scams, bond scams, etc), pig butchering scams (a.k.a romance scams or when you get that random text from someone pretending to reach out to the wrong number), employment scams.
Since we know that the man fell for a bond scam, it’s likely that the Uber driver was scammed into working as a money laundering mule for the real scammers. It’s very likely that the Uber driver had fallen for one of the other scams and then she was told to pick up packages where she could earn some of “her” money back. She would get more as long as she only took a certain amount and forwarded on the rest. Either that, or she was scammed into working for a “company” where “clients” send in packages of money, and she transfers it to different accounts as well as a little to her own.
From the article, this doesn’t sound like a scam specific to Uber/Ride shares.
What we know:
There are a lot of ways to scam people over the phone: tech-support/refund scams, Scams where legal action is threatened unless you pay (ex: IRS scams), emergency money requests from friends in trouble (ransom scams, bond scams, etc), pig butchering scams (a.k.a romance scams or when you get that random text from someone pretending to reach out to the wrong number), employment scams.
Since we know that the man fell for a bond scam, it’s likely that the Uber driver was scammed into working as a money laundering mule for the real scammers. It’s very likely that the Uber driver had fallen for one of the other scams and then she was told to pick up packages where she could earn some of “her” money back. She would get more as long as she only took a certain amount and forwarded on the rest. Either that, or she was scammed into working for a “company” where “clients” send in packages of money, and she transfers it to different accounts as well as a little to her own.
Edit: formatting