SUMMARY
Viney Gera, a former Uber employee, embezzled INR 1,17,03,033 by putting 388 fake driver profiles in the company’s systems
Gera was responsible for the driver arrears function, which involves the handling of the arrears due from driver-partners to Uber
The IP addresses of 191 accounts of the 388 fake accounts matched with the IP addresses used by Gera to log into his work computer
Uber India has accused one of its former employees of embezzling over INR 1 Cr by putting fake driver profiles in the company’s list of drivers, according to an FIR filed by the cab aggregator with Gurugram Police.
The company alleged that the employee, Viney Gera, tampered with the list of drivers on its server and added 388 fake drivers. These driver profiles were linked to 18 bank accounts in which the money was transferred.
The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) found the allegations prima facie true, according to a PTI report, and at its recommendation, an FIR was registered against Gera at Sushant Lok Police Station on Monday (January 30).
The complaint, filed by Prabhajan Kumar, the authorised signatory of Uber India Systems Private Limited, noted that Gera worked in Uber’s driver operations team from August to December 2021 at its Sector-44 office. He was hired via TeamLease Services Limited and resigned from the company on December 19, 2021.
Viney Gera was responsible for the driver arrears function, which involves the handling of the arrears due from driver-partners to Uber. The cab aggregator remits payments to its drivers via an automated system called Uber Payment Tool after a spreadsheet is uploaded to it with the details of the driver’s due payment.
Uber India noted in the FIR that a spreadsheet is automatically uploaded regularly to avoid inconveniencing drivers. This was Gera’s responsibility at Uber – he was responsible for updating the details of the driver accounts to be paid.
“Viney Gera created and placed a number of non-genuine driver partner accounts in the spreadsheet,” the cab aggregator said in its complaint. Uber added that these accounts were created in bulk and the IP addresses of 191 accounts of the 388 fake accounts matched with the IP addresses used by Gera to log into his work computer on the same day as the accounts were created.
“Of the 388 drivers, 345 of them had a phone number attached to the account. The 345 phone numbers were all unique. Aside from a small number of duplicates, the names on the accounts were all different as well,” read the complaint.
“In the above manner, a total amount of INR 1,17,03,033 has been fraudulently paid to these fake driver partner accounts. Further, there are 388 driver partner accounts which received money fraudulently and the money had been paid into only 18 bank accounts,” said Uber India in its complaint.
According to the FIR, Gera has been booked under Sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by servant), 420 (cheating), 477-A (falsification of accounts), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
Last fiscal, Uber India incurred a net loss of INR 216 Cr, down 35% from INR 333.9 Cr in FY21. The company has said previously that it is close to achieving profitability in India.
