CHICAGO — A rideshare drivers’ union is warning its members about a trend where drivers have been the target of robberies in Chicago in recent weeks.
“People have been frightened away from doing this job,” said Lenny Sanchez, Director of the Independent Drivers Guild of Illinois (IDGI). “We have seen many people state that the risk and reward is no longer worth it.”
The Chicago Police Department issued a community alert Monday morning about a rash of such robberies targeting rideshare drivers on the South Side.
According to CPD, at least a dozen robberies have happened on South Crandon and South Exchange Avenues in the city’s South Shore neighborhood, where one-to-two male customers enter a rideshare driver’s vehicle and one of them asks to use the driver’s phone to make a call.
The offenders then flee the vehicle on foot, but during three of the robberies, one of the male customers showed the driver they had a gun and demanded their cell phone before they fled the scene on foot.
Incident times and locations
- 6700 block of South Crandon Avenue on Aug. 30, 2024 at 12:03 A.M.
- 6800 block of South Crandon Avenue on Aug. 30, 2024 at 10:30 A.M.
- 6700 block of South Crandon Avenue on Sept. 6, 2024 between 2:00-2:15 A.M.
- 6900 block of South Crandon Avenue on Sept. 6, 2024 between 2:00-3:30 A.M.
- 6700 block of South Crandon Avenue on Sept. 6, 2024 at 4:00 A.M.
- 6700 block of South Crandon Avenue on Sept. 8, 2024 at 5:30 P.M.
- 7200 block of South Exchange Avenue on Sept. 8, 2024 at 10:10 P.M.
- 6800 block of South Crandon Avenue on Sept. 9, 2024 at 6:18 A.M.
- 6700 block of South Crandon Avenue on Sept. 11, 2024 at 12:30 A.M.
- 7200 block of South Exchange Avenue on Sept. 13, 2024 at 1:20 A.M.
- 7200 block of South Exchange Avenue on Sept. 16, 2024 at 12:05 A.M.
- 7200 block of South Exchange Avenue on Sept. 16, 2024 at 4:22 A.M.
“There’s been years of these crimes happening against us and very few people convicted of these,” Sanchez said. “So, the risk reward for these criminals makes it a very attractive crime to commit to target us rideshare and delivery workers.”
CPD describes the suspects as being 12-25 years old and wearing hooded sweatshirts during the robberies.
Sanchez said the IDGI is pushing for more protections to safeguard workers in an industry that has dealt with its fair share of crime.
One of those protections is asking Uber and Lyft to require customers to upload a selfie when requesting a rideshare vehicle to pick them up.
“We want to be part of requesting the service to deter a criminal from continuing to use the apps the way they have been used, whether it’s to lure someone to steal a cell phone, or lure someone to a bank to withdraw money at gunpoint or steal their cars,” Sanchez said. “So, they have this technology it’s just flipping a switch and they’re refusing to do it.”
Uber and Lyft have not returned requests for comment on this story from WGN News.