Scammers are rampant on the carpooling platform Blablacar.

Fake profiles are currently offering rides with the aim of extracting money without any service in exchange, reports Phonandroid.

The scam was revealed on Twitter by a surfer, Valentin Hamon.

This journalist wanted to go to Douai (North) from Paris.

He then booked a trip offered at a low price by a certain Tiphaine.

He then received a confirmation email, before receiving another telling him that the reservation had been canceled and that he was going to be reimbursed.

Tonight I think I almost fell victim to a serious scam on @Blablacar, which (possibly) involves Russian hackers.

I want to tell you this in case you find yourself in the same situation


(1/too much)

— Valentin Hamon--Beugin (@BeuginHamon) February 18, 2022

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

I ACCEPT

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to third-party content

I ACCEPT

You can also modify your choices at any time via "choice of consent".

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.

Trying to contact the carpooler, he came across an answering machine.

“Intrigued but not worried, I give up and look for another Blablacar for the next day, says the Internet user.

So I come across Sophia, who offers a similar route, for 13 euros.

Sophia has never been rated either, but she posts a photo that looks legit.

But he was no luckier.

The trip is confirmed and then cancelled.

A payment to be made in Russian rubles

It was then that he was contacted by Sophia on WhatsApp.

She explains that Blablacar gave her a link so that she could confirm the trip.

The journalist clicks on this link which points to a site in the colors of Blablacar.

He fills in all the information requested until payment.

To do this, he must enter a code received by text message.

He will then be surprised.

"My bank tells me that the code in question corresponds to a payment of 900.89 BYN [Russian roubles]", says the carpooler on Twitter.

This represents a little over 300 euros.

We are far from the initial 13 euros of the journey.

By consulting the Blablacar site, the young man noticed that there were many fake profiles of young women, whether Karina or Monica.

Each time, the profile picture seems to come from the Nvidia site which randomly generates fake faces.

Vigilance is therefore essential.

Blablacar encourages you to “look at the profile of the carpooler or carpooler you plan to travel with” before booking and to “always book and pay directly” on its site.

Planet

Transport: Is daily carpooling (finally) taking off in France?

high tech

Netflix: A new scam targets subscribers with fraudulent emails

  • hacker

  • Scam

  • Carpooling

  • Society

  • Fraud

  • 0 comment

  • 0 share

    • Share on Messenger

    • Share on Facebook

    • Share on Twitter

    • Share on Flipboard

    • Share on Pinterest

    • Share on Linkedin

    • Send by Mail

  • To safeguard

  • A fault ?

  • To print