Woman claims she was a victim of 'Uber vomit scam'

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - An Atlanta woman is sounding the alarm after, she says, she fell victim to a rideshare scam being reported nationwide.

Alicia Choi told FOX 5’s Deidra Dukes, “The fact that the burden of proof is on you the rider to prove that you didn’t throw up on someone’s car, that seems ridiculous.”

But that’s just what happened to Choi after she booked an Uber Sunday morning. Choi said she fell victim to the “Uber Vomit Scam.”

“When I got in the car everything was fine. We had a perfectly normal ride,” she said.

Choi said she was surprised the next day when Uber charged her an additional $40 for a “cleaning fee.” The driver provided Uber a photo of the vehicle, claiming Choi had vomited on his car.

“When I asked Uber about it, the company provided me photos saying this is what I had done and I tried to refute it saying I did not do this,” Choi said.

Frustrated by Uber’s initial response Choi had her boyfriend pull the metadata from the photo which revealed it was over a year old.

She said Uber only agreed to reverse the charges when she threatened to report the incident to police.

“I don’t intend to take Uber in the near future at this point, in fact, I won’t be taking any ride shares anymore because who is to tell this can happen at any point,” Choi said.

Choi plans to file a police report. FOX 5 News contacted Uber regarding Choi’s case.

While Uber wouldn't discuss the specific case they issued a written statement saying in part:

“Participating in fraudulent activity of any kind is a clear violation of our Community Guidelines. and will take appropriate action whenever fraud may be detected.”