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Compromised Uber Users Get Charged for Trips Hackers Took in China

Password reuse leads to extra Uber charges

Sep 24, 2015 23:04 GMT  ·  By
Uber users get charged for rides in China
   Uber users get charged for rides in China

Uber customers in the US are reporting being charged for trips taken in China, even if some of them have never visited the country.

Last May, security researchers observed that hacked Uber accounts were being sold on the Dark Web for $1. The compromised accounts did not come from a Uber data breach, but were the result of some of Uber's users reusing the same password for multiple online accounts.

Now, Uber customers are complaining via Twitter that some of them are seeing bills rack up on their credit card, which they have tied to Uber trips being taken in various Chinese cities.

This is not the first time that this has happened, as Vice claims, similar issues having been reported by European and US Uber users back in May, just after the initial report of hacked accounts being spotted on the Dark Web.

The company said back then it was pondering implementing two-factor authentication, but to this day, nothing of the sorts has been added to any Uber app.

In a similar incident, again in China, Quartz reported back in June that hacked Uber drivers accounts were being sold on Chinese site Taobao.

These accounts were being used by some Chinese drivers to go around the Uber's strict acceptance policy, and even log in fake rides to gain access to various bonuses.