Ontario doctor shocked after finding more than $20,000 in Uber charges on credit card

Toronto surgeon Dr. Subodh Verma didn’t expect to see more than $20,000 worth of Uber charges racked up when he looked at his latest credit card statement.

“When I opened the bill, I just saw the total amount,” Verma told CTV News, “and it shocked me.”

A $200 Uber charge stood out, considering he said most of his trips with the ride-sharing service only cost him a few dollars.

“It was clear there had been a case of fraud.”

The charge was from Dec. 27th and it was far from the only one.

The bill shows 103 separate charges for $200 each — all on the same day — totalling $20,600.

Statement of charges (Provided by Verma)

Verma says he was alerted by American Express that there had been fraudulent activity on his card and that his card would be cancelled.

“I thought that maybe there would be a $200 or $400 charge that went through, not that there would be a $20,000 charge that would go through.”

Verma says the frustration of the fraud was only made worse, when he tried to rectify it with American Express.

“The American Express Centurion fraud services alerted us that there was some fraud activity on Dec. 27th and that they were cancelling the card,” he said. “Yet, they’ve allowed the charges to go through.”

“Furthermore, when I spoke to them yesterday, they actually put the onus on me as the cardholder.”

He says American Express asked him to prove he wasn’t responsible for the charges.

Dr. Subodh Verma (Provided by Verma)

Verma says he reached out to Uber about the issue, but didn’t receive much assistance.

“All we got back was a response that says ‘We’re sorry to hear that you’re having difficulties but we can’t find any record of these charges,’” he said.

CTV News reached out to both companies. In a statement, an Uber spokesperson said “what the rider experienced is frustrating and appears to be a result of a targeted scam by a third-party.”

“We are still investigating, but we are in the process of refunding the charges back to the credit card,” they said.

An American Express spokesperson told CTV News Toronto they were aware of the issue.

“If card members are a victim of fraud, have taken reasonable care to protect their account details and provide any necessary information to our fraud department, they will not be held responsible for any charges,” the company said.

It's the news Verma says he’d hoped to hear.

“All I needed to hear from them is ‘We’ve got it covered, we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

Both companies said they planned to be in touch with Dr. Verma.

As for Verma, he says he plans to keep using both the ride-sharing service and the credit card company, but he hopes his experience will help both companies improve their customer service policies.

“We are not protected from fraud when it matters the most and sometimes these multi-billion dollar companies, such as Uber or American Express, fall short in assisting.”