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Drivers for popular ‘Door Dash’ app say they were scammed; all their money taken

Posted at 10:24 PM, Sep 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-25 00:24:48-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- Kirsta Carlston and Joshua Mortensen are part of the growing “gig” economy in Salt Lake City. They work together using an app called DoorDash to deliver food orders from local restaurants. The money is critical, covering the cost of their rent every month while they work to build their own small business. But last week, Josh didn’t get paid.

“I contacted Door Dash and they said that somebody had used FastPay to get the pay and that obviously was not him or us,” said Carlston.

Josh’s account had been scammed. A few days prior, he was on a delivery when he got a call he thought was from DoorDash. The caller said his delivery had been canceled and they needed to process a credit to his account.

“They had my name and they had my phone number,” said Mortensen. “They asked me to verify my password.”

DoorDash is aware scammers are targeting Dashers like Josh.

"While there has been no breach of DoorDash’s systems, we have become aware that third-party scammers have obtained password information from some Dashers in an attempt to access sensitive information, including bank account and other private data. To help Dashers protect themselves, DoorDash has sent messages via email, push notification, and in the app notifying Dashers of this scam and reminding them of the importance of keeping their passwords confidential. As DoorDash informed Dashers, DoorDash will never ask anyone in the community for their confidential bank account information. We also continue to enhance the security of account information, including adding two-step authentication to the most recent version of the Dasher app.” Wrote a DoorDash Spokesperson.

The company communicates through its website, app and email newsletters to warn Dashers about potential scams. It is hardly alone in trying to limit exposure for it’s contracted workers, Uber and Lyft drivers have been the targets of similar scams.

Josh and Kirsta are still making deliveries. They hope DoorDash will cover the loss, roughly $125 for Josh. But they are concerned that working in the “gig” economy may always include a threat they never expected.

“You’re self-contracted, you’re self-employed through them, so there’s really nothing you can do,” said Kirsta