Uber drivers are manipulating the app to hike the price of your rides

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Uber‘s ability to remain in the headlines week after week is something to behold. I mean, sure, those headlines often range from the moderately shameful to the outright absurd, but you simply have to admire the consistency here.

Today’s story? Uber drivers across the country have been manipulating the app to trigger higher fares.

"rule number one, we don't talk about ‘Surge Club'" https://t.co/M89vdEZOy8

— sara ashley o'brien (@saraashleyo) June 13, 2019

The grift, which was originally reported on by a local ABC affiliate out of Virginia last month, is a rather simple one. Uber drivers in a given area will all turn off the app at the same time, thus triggering the app to enact surge pricing. The drivers then turn the app back on and see their average rate rise about $10-$20 per trip. Boom, done.

The practice is known among Uber drivers as “Surge Club”

According to ABC7, this “club” was being used by drivers to increase prices at Reagan National Airport. Although Uber assured passengers that the practice was a localized issue shortly after the initial report came out, drivers from all over the U.S. have since confirmed with the station that it is anything but.

READ MORE: Did Uber really use surge pricing after the Brooklyn shooting?

There’s even this guy, a Tampa-based Youtuber/Uber Driver who goes by Dustin is Driving, who posted the following video to his 21,000 subscribers.

“People have been doing this for a long, long time,” says Dustin. “We all know, rule number one, we don’t talk about ‘Surge Club’. If you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing, you don’t go tell the world about it.”

According to many of the drivers who spoke with ABC7, “Surge Club” only came as a result of the company’s continued pay cuts in recent years. Uber drivers briefly attempted to strike in May for this very reason, but were ultimately unsuccessful.

But don’t worry, I’m sure that everything will work itself out when Amazon buys out Uber sometime in the next few years.

What do you think? Surprised by this news? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Jared Jones

Writer. Editor. Barelyknewer. Hate mail can be directed to j j o n e s @ k a r s f o r k i d s d o t e a r t h l i n k