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Phony Uber driver charged with ripping off NYC bar patrons in cellphone scheme
Sukhrob Suvonov of Brooklyn was charged with posing as an Uber driver to bilk bar patrons out of thousands of dollars — and is suspected of doing the same thing to other Big Apple victims.
nypost.com
Phony Uber driver charged with ripping off NYC bar patrons in cellphone scheme
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Published Jan. 30, 2024
Updated Jan. 30, 2024, 4:32 p.m. ET
A scheming crook posing as an Uber driver scammed West Village bar patrons out of thousands of dollars — and may have pulled off the same scheme with other unsuspecting victims, law enforcement sources said.
Sukhrob Suvonov, 29, was charged with grand larceny and possession of a forged instrument Saturday for making purchases and transferring money to himself after duping his alleged victims into letting him use their cellphones, according to the sources.
“It’s very common,” one cop told The Post. “People keep falling for it and I don’t see a lot of these getting solved.
“Criminals are realizing how easy it is to pull off and how it’s hard for the police to track down, so they’re going to keep doing it,” he said. “So this [arrest] is encouraging.”
The latest digital heists took place outside the Red Lion, a Greenwich Village watering hole, shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday, police sources said.
Suvonov, of Bensonhurst, allegedly identified himself as the victim’s Uber driver and then asked to use his cellphone to look up directions — but instead transferred $3,000 to his own PayPal account before returning the phone, according to the sources.
3 Sukhrob Suvonov, 29, is charged with grand larceny and possession of a forged instrument for allegedly posing as an Uber driver and using passengers’ cell phones to make purchases and transferring money to himself.
3 Sukhrob Suvonov picked up two of his alleged victims outside of the Red Lion bar in the West Village, according to a criminal complaint filed by Manhattan prosecutors. Brian Zak/NY Post
Suvonov allegedly pulled off the same stunt three times before, according to a complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
On Dec. 27, he allegedly told another victim outside the Red Lion around 3:30 a.m. that he was her Uber driver and used the same ruse to wire himself $3,000 through Venmo, the complaint said.
On Oct. 21, Suvonov allegedly used a woman’s phone to charge $3,480 in purchases at the Apple Store using her American Express account after picking her up on East 66th Street, according to the complaint.
3 Prosecutors said Sukhrob Suvonov claimed to be his victims’ Uber driver and then rip them off using their phones. dennizn – stock.adobe.com
Meanwhile, sources said he is suspected in at least three other similar robberies.
Suvonov was arrested and arraigned on the charges on Saturday night and is now being held at Rikers Island on $5,000 cash bail or a $25,000 bond, records show.
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Manhattan prosecutors had asked that he be held on $25,000 cash or a $75,000 bond.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has made similar scams a focus and recently wrote to Venmo, PayPal and Zelle to urge the cash app companies to put security measures in place to protect user accounts.
“This is exactly the kind of conduct we’ve been talking about for the past week, where a phone theft can very, very quickly lead to a drained bank account,” prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday.
“These cases are increasingly common, and while we’re obviously taking the prosecutions very seriously, DA Bragg is urging prevention too.”
The Uber scam is the second bit of bad news for West Village bar hoppers in recent days — The Post reported this week that a team of migrant pickpockets have been targeting neighborhood bars.
According to police sources, the trio of Colombian migrants struck three times in less than a half hour at a row of nightspots over the weekend — with nearly 100 asylum seekers in all on the NYPD radar.