Two Florida men are now known as the "Uber cheats" after apparently concocting a scam that cost Uber Eats more than a million dollars.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office says Trayon Morgan, 21, and Roy Blackwood, 38, uncovered a loophole that allowed them to convert prepaid company credit into gift cards by pretending to be both Uber Eats customers and delivery drivers.
The fraud allegedly started in January 2022 with the men creating fake accounts and using phony and stolen names, police said.
According to investigators, Morgan would place a grocery order as a consumer for pickup under a fake account, then accept the order as the courier.
"Uber would then provide Morgan with a preauthorized and preloaded credit card to make the purchase," police said in a statement, noting up to $700 would be provided for each order.
Then, acting as the customer, Morgan would cancel the order and proceed to purchase gift cards with the preauthorized Uber credit card, according to police.
On several occasions Blackwood would drive Morgan to different Walgreens to commit the fraud, police said. On one day in January alone, detectives allegedly watched the pair scam Uber out of more than $5,000 buying gift cards at 27 different Walgreens stores.
"Morgan created several fake accounts to keep the fraud going," police said. "He would often use stolen and fabricated identities of Uber drivers, using their license information and altering it with his own photo."
Blackwood and Morgan were arrested earlier this month and are now facing charges of organized scheme to defraud and grand theft.
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