A Broward man acting as both a customer and a delivery driver for Uber Eats is suspected of having scammed the company out of at least $1 million before detectives arrested him on Tuesday, authorities say.
Trayon Morgan, 21, of Lauderhill, now faces charges of organized scheme to defraud and grand theft, as does his alleged accomplice, Roy Blackwood, 38, of Sunrise.
Investigators with Uber contacted detectives with the Broward Sheriff’s Office in early January, saying that Morgan, an employee, “had figured out a way to scam Uber out of approximately $2 million,” according to the probable cause affidavit, often amassing thousands of dollars in a single day.
He would create fake accounts as both an Uber Eats customer and an Uber Eats delivery driver, then place an order at a designated Walgreens on the customer account. Meanwhile, he would be waiting near the Walgreens so that he could accept the order as the delivery driver.
Typically, the Uber Eats driver would go into the store and purchase the items the customer ordered, then deliver them to their home. Uber gives the driver a prepaid credit card to make these purchases.
Instead of purchasing the items, however, Morgan would cancel the order as a customer. Then, within minutes, he would enter the Walgreens and buy gift cards using the money on the prepaid credit card, according to the affidavit. In one instance, Morgan ordered 35 bottles of Tide Liquid Laundry Detergent.
The scam continued for most of 2022, until around November, when Uber investigators found out about it. They told BSO that they believed Morgan was responsible for at least $500,000 in losses since 2022.
A few days after Uber investigators told BSO about Morgan in January, they updated detectives that Morgan had committed seven more crimes in Broward, while working with an accomplice later identified as Blackwood. Blackwood drove Morgan to Walgreens throughout Broward, where the two racked up over $2,000 on an Uber Plus card.
On Jan. 24, around 6 a.m., BSO detectives began following Morgan. They watched as he and Blackwood drove to 27 different Walgreens in Broward and Palm Beach for over 12 hours, ending after 8 p.m.
Uber investigators then confirmed that Morgan and Blackwood had amassed over $5,000 in that time. Detectives met with Uber investigators, who said they were able to identify Morgan using information he had provided to the company during the hiring process, including his drivers license.
Investigators traced Morgan’s identity to several other fake accounts. The accounts had made close to 800 trips, according to the affidavit, nearly all of them in Florida, traveling across Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, Orlando, and Lakeland, and as far north as South Georgia.
Morgan also stole multiple identities from real people to make the accounts, according to the affidavit.
Since January of this year, Morgan and Blackwood had made close to $10,000 through the scam before their arrests this month.
Detectives issued arrest warrants for the two on Aug. 7. On Aug. 16, Palm Beach Gardens Gardens police arrested Blackwood, according to the release. On Tuesday, BSO detectives arrested Morgan in Tamarac.