Airbnb & Uber scams: New book explores thriving criminal activity on big tech platforms
- Jun 26
- 1 min read
Often advertised as reliable options within the sharing economy, a new book titled 'Delusive Speech in the Sharing Economy: Scam Inc' reveals a more troubling side.
702's Gugs Mhlungu spoke to author and Professor in the Department of Communication Science at Unisa, Julie Reid.
"...when you use Uber, you just assume that a company as big as Uber will have verified the driver's licence and the criminal clearance records of their drivers, right? You assume that Airbnb will have verified that the property that you are booking actually exists in reality. Those assumptions that we make about these companies are really problematic because that is not the case... and that is what makes these platforms so vulnerable to misuse by criminal syndicates and by scammers."
- Professor Julie Reid, author
Listen to their conversation in the audio clip on EWN.