Ryde said that in mid-May, it received a “large number of feedback from drivers through email and social media platforms” regarding fake rider accounts and phantom bookings for its RydeX private-hire car service.

SINGAPORE — Homegrown firm Ryde, known for its carpooling mobile application, has lodged a police report after being hit with fake user accounts and phantom bookings that, it said, caused its drivers to suffer an income loss of more than S$50,000.

Its investigations later found “compelling digital evidence” that point to three IP addresses as the sources of the fake accounts, Ryde said, claiming that one of these belonged to rival ride-sharing firm Grab. Grab told TODAY that it is investigating the matter. 

In a statement issued on Thursday (June 28), Ryde said that in mid-May, it received a "large number of feedback from drivers through email and social media platforms" regarding fake rider accounts and phantom bookings for its RydeX private-hire car service.

These cases have grown over the six weeks after that, with close to 300 fake accounts and 2,000 phantom bookings created.

It also alleged that the majority of the fake accounts and bookings originated from two office buildings: One is Midview City located on Sin Ming Lane, and the other is Herencia in the River Valley district. Grab's office is located at Midview City.

Ryde said: "Such manipulations of the app have distressed affected drivers as their means of livelihood have been impacted.

"On top of causing drivers to lose money on fuel, these acts severely limit the drivers' availability to take on more jobs as it sends them driving around in vain when they could have been picking up legitimate riders."

Full story at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/hit-fake-user-accounts-and-phantom-bookings-ryde-makes-police-report