Women left scared for safety by male delivery drivers lying about gender on app

Women in London and other major cities have been warned they are at risk after male food delivery drivers are setting up their accounts as women.

Drivers have reportedly ‘harassed and intimidated’ women at home as they answer the door waiting for their food.

But their delivery accounts showed they were women with a different vehicle, making it impossible to report incidents.

One online group has even been set up specifically for renting accounts.

This is despite account holders needing to verify their age, right to work and undergo background checks before working for various apps.

One woman, Anoushka, told Metro, male delivery drivers have withheld the food unless she gives them her number, stalked her on social media and have tried to push into her flat.

She also often opens the door to find a male delivery drivers with her food when the account said they were female.

The 24-year-old said: ‘I have had some really scary incidents with food delivery drivers.

‘I had one driver message me the day after he delivered my food saying “I know where you live” and “you are easy to find” – it made me feel sick to my stomach.’

Another also refused to hand over her food until she gave him her phone number, which she said she felt no choice to do as he was not leaving.

Anoushka reported all the incidents to Uber Eats and Deliveroo, who edited algorithms ‘to make it less likely they would be assigned to deliver her food’.

But if the accounts are incorrect and say they are a female, victims of harassment will be unable to report the driver.

Anoushka said: ‘Everyone I know has had it where it says it is a woman but then it’s someone else and also a completely different vehicle. It has happened quite often with me.

‘But if any of the previous bad experiences had happened with a fake account, I would have been unable to report them.’

And she is not the only one. Others on social media have complained the delivery driver who arrives at their front door does not match the ‘blonde woman’ as shown on the app.

One account on X wrote after a male driver who said he was a woman delivered her food: ‘This happened to me at the weekend and he then called my number after to try and flirt with me.’

Another said: ‘I literally stopped ordering food after a driver with a woman’s name turned up as a man and started asking if I was home alone and if I live alone etc. I invented a husband on the spot.’

UberEats previously told MailOnline: ‘All couriers who use the Uber Eats app must undergo checks to ensure they are over eighteen and have a legal right to work in the UK, and pass criminal background checks.

‘Uber Eats has worked with the Home Office to launch additional identity verification checks to help ensure only those who legitimately use someone else’s account to deliver on the platform are able to. 

‘We are constantly reviewing these processes to ensure they are as robust as possible and if we receive reports that this is not the case we will investigate and take appropriate action.’

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