Uber Denies Existence of FBI Investigation Into Its Hacked Accounts

In March, Motherboard revealed that thousands of hacked Uber accounts were available for purchase on the dark web. Shortly after, victims in the United Kingdom and the United States complained of fraudulent trips being carried out on their accounts. Over the weekend, the Guardian reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now investigating these hacks—but Uber vehemently denies this, and the paper has partially walked back its claim.

"The FBI in the US is looking into how British users of the taxi-booking app Uber have been charged for journeys they did not either book or make," is what the Guardian article originally read on Saturday.

This piece was then updated today to say that "US authorities" were investigating the accounts.

But in a several-email long exchange with an Uber representative, the company denied the existence of any investigation, FBI or otherwise.

"All we have said in our original statement is that we were informing the authorities of the fraudulent Uber rides," the spokesperson said. "That somehow has become the basis for this [Guardian] story."

"There really is nothing new to report—it's the first time the Guardian reported on this and somehow assumed the FBI," the spokesperson wrote.

In fact, the Guardian reported on the hacked accounts back in March, along with other international media.

When asked which authorities Uber had reported the activity to, the spokesperson said that he "can't confirm who they are," but that "there is certainly no investigation into Uber."

According to product listings, at the time of writing hacked Uber accounts have been sold 2,884 times on the dark web market AlphaBay, the site that Motherboard originally discovered the accounts on.

Two vendors have sold the majority of these accounts, with a user named Courvoisier selling 1,624, and another called ThinkingForward selling 1,131.

This is only an estimate: listings for items that have been removed for whatever reason are not included in this survey, and the accounts may be for sale on other marketplaces. Also, it is possible that vendors have obtained and sold the same accounts to more than one person.

However, vendors claim to be selling newly acquired accounts. One of Courvoisier's listings says "FRESH STOCK," while another from the seller ForeverPP also advertises "fresh" accounts.

It is likely that the accounts were hacked because of users sharing passwords between different services, according to a hacker who demonstrated the method to Motherboard.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the existence of an investigation into fraudulently accessed Uber accounts.