INDIA

Robbers are carjacking ride-share drivers and then picking up victims, Baltimore cops say

Thieves in Baltimore are carjacking ride-share drivers and using the apps to pick up victims, according to police.

Thieves in Baltimore are carjacking ride-share drivers and using the apps to pick up victims, according to police.

AP

Unlike the millions of Americans who use apps such as Uber and Lyft and arrive at their desired locations, some riders in Baltimore found themselves unexpectedly shuttled to ATMs where they were robbed, police said.

Police are investigating the criminal phenomenon in cooperation with ride-share companies and federal agencies.

Police are looking into “a string of robberies involving suspects using Ride Share apps to carjack the drivers and then use the app to pick up victims and either rob them via Cash App or drive them to ATMs,” a spokeswoman for the Baltimore Police Department told McClatchy News.

Several arrests have been made, and some ride-share payments have been reversed, according to the spokeswoman.

“The reported attacks are horrifying,” a spokesperson for Uber told McClatchy News, who also noted the company is working closely with law enforcement on the matter. “We encourage users to cancel trips if they don’t feel safe and remind riders to always double-check the details of their ride.”

Among details that should be verified are the car make and model, driver name and photo, and license plate, the spokesperson said.

A man reported that he’d hailed an Uber and when the car pulled up, he was “held at gunpoint, kidnapped, and taken to an ATM where the suspect demanded cash,” according to CBS Baltimore.

At least two similar incidents occurred over the next two days, the outlet reported.

In another case, a Lyft driver was robbed at gunpoint of his phone, jewelry and shoes and forced to get in the trunk, according to the Baltimore Banner. The thieves then drove around and proceeded to rob more people.

A spokesperson for Lyft told McClatchy News that the episode is “deeply troubling” and noted that the company is also partnering with law enforcement on the investigation.

Ride-share drivers have been subjected to robberies and carjackings by customers in the past.

Two men in Minnesota were charged in June in connection with armed robberies targeting Uber and Lyft drivers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. And an upstate New York Uber driver was robbed at gunpoint in February, according to Syracuse.com.

A 2021 investigation by the Markup, a nonprofit, found 124 cases of carjackings of ride-share drivers, many of whom are older adults, immigrants and women.

“Lyft and Uber drivers are much more vulnerable than other carjacking victims,” Eric Piza, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told the Markup. “If they do this for a living, they have built in reasons to take every ride that comes their way.”

Source link

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button

Adblock Detected

Please turn off the ad blocker & refresh this page again to access the content.