Ride-hailing scam targeted customers in the South Loop

Two customers of ride-hailing services fell victim to a scam and had their money stolen in separate incidents within the last month in the South Loop.

Each time, the driver of the ride-hailing service picked up the customer in the same type of vehicle the customer had requested through their cellphone app, such as Uber or Lyft, according to a police community alert.

The driver took the customer to their destination,but then said the transaction did not process and told the customer to manually enter their debit or credit card information, police said. The driver then asked for the customer’s PIN.

Immediately after the trip, the driver headed to an ATM or currency exchange and withdrew cash, police said.

The most recent scam happened about 2:10 a.m. Oct. 18 in the 800 block of South Wabash, while the other incident occurred at 11:22 p.m. Sept. 29 in the 2000 block of South Michigan, police said.