Man claiming to be Uber driver borrows phones, steals crypto

Police in Scottsdale, Arizona took in Nuruhussein Hussein on December 11, 2024, after it was found that he had stolen cryptocurrency from two different victims, on two different occasions, using the same scam. The grift was simple enough on the surface; he would somehow figure out the name of somebody requesting an Uber ride near a prominent hotel in the area. He would then call out their name, and when they got in his car, claim that there was an issue with his phone, or offer to help them figure out why the Uber app wasn't showing that their driver had arrived. This is when he would go into their Coinbase account and transfer out thousands of dollars in crypto. 

While it sounds like a simple scam, there are a few elements that make it complicated. For starters, one is left to wonder how he got the name and location of people looking for an Uber ride. It's possible that he had access to the app himself, either through his own account or somebody else's, or he had an accomplice with the app. That part may end up coming to light later in the case; for now, Uber has declined to comment. Second, there's the mystery of how he got into the victims' Coinbase accounts. The app features mandatory two-factor authentication, and is compatible with biometric authentication. If the accounts in question were set up to authenticate via text, one would think the victims would have noticed something amiss when Hussein retrieved the authentication code. 

While only two victims have been found so far, it's possible that this happened more often. Since the scammer would have had no way to figure out who had crypto to steal, he likely used trial-and-error, giving many fake Uber rides before finding each victim. This is evidenced by how spaced-out the attacks are; one happened in March, and one in October. Hussein, who is said to travel out-of-country often, had his bail set at $200,000, and will be tracked electronically on orders to stay in Maricopa County, Arizona if he makes that bail.