Gruesome Uber Scam in China: Ghost Drivers Unmasked

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This isn't a ghost, but a rather gruesome scam targeting Uber users in China in 2016 (before Uber China merged with Didi Chuxing). Of course, their goal wasn't to pick up passengers, but rather to collect a "cancellation fee." First, the drivers would use digitally altered profile pictures to resemble corpses or ghosts with pale skin, bulging eyes, or distorted faces. When customers booked a ride and saw such a profile picture on the app, they would usually panic and cancel the trip immediately. At that point, each time a customer canceled, they had to pay a small fee (around 2–5 Yuan). This money would go into the pockets of the "ghost drivers." In some cases, if the customer didn't cancel, the driver would automatically press "start trip" even before the customer got in the car, then end the trip less than a minute later so the system would automatically deduct the money. Naturally, this incident quickly reached Uber, and they had to acknowledge the problem. They then implemented AI-powered facial scanning to verify driver identities. They also refunded passengers who reported these cases and permanently blocked accounts that violated the rules.