- A 40-year-old pretended to be an Uber driver and asked to borrow the phones of his passengers.
- One victim noticed two Bitcoin had been transferred from his wallet to the thief after his ride.
- Authorities have hit the man with a slew of charges and a $200,000 bond.
If you thought you’d had a bad Uber ride before, you may want to consider yourself lucky that you didn’t bump into this guy. A 40-year-old in Scottsdale, Arizona, has been accused of hustling more than $300,000 in cryptocurrency from passengers while pretending to work as an Uber driver.
According to authorities, Nuruhussein Hussein posed as an Uber driver in Arizona on March 31 and October 11 this year. He would pick up customers who had ordered a real Uber ride from outside a hotel in Scottsdale. When the unsuspecting passenger got in his car, he would ask to use their phone to look up directions or connect to the Uber app. Police say he would then see if they had any cryptocurrency on their phone and if they did, he would transfer it to his digital wallet.
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An investigation was led by the Scottsdale Police Department and the United States Secret Service field office in Phoenix. He was charged with two counts of money laundering, two counts of fraudulent schemes, and two counts of theft.
In one case, a victim says they were picked up by Hussein on October 11 and gave the driver their phone. However, the victim says he started to drive down the block and said he was unable to link the ride. He then handed the phone back to the passenger. Soon after, the victim received several emails stating that two Bitcoins had been transferred from their wallet. Detectives quickly linked the IP address of Hussein’s digital wallet and his home. They claim he converted the Bitcoin to Monero, a crypto that’s said to be more difficult to trace, AZ Family reports.
Hussein was booked into Maricopa County Jail and a $200,000 bond has been placed on him. Prosecutors say he is a flight risk because he frequently travels to Ethiopia. If he can post bond, he will be electronically monitored, has been ordered to stay in Maricopa County, and banned from using the internet.
