Uber drivers in China are scaring passengers into cancelling their rides

UBER drivers in China have been terrifying their passengers with an elaborate new scam that’s as creepy as it is cunning.

IT’S 2am on a Saturday night, you’ve had a few too many vodka shots and your friends are not-so-subtly making you haul your drunken ass into an Uber.

Desperate to get home before your classy local kebab joint closes, you hurry through ordering your ride and stare at your screen impatiently.

And then BAM! You’re shocked back into total sobriety by the likes of this:

KILL IT WITH FIRE!

Halloween isn’t for another month, but these creepy Uber driver profiles are showing up on the ride-sharing app in China.

These profiles are seriously terrifying.

On Chinese social media, they’re being referred to as ‘ghost drivers’.

Would you get into an Uber if the driver looked like this?

As you can see, the drivers’ faces are distorted and ghost-like, with eerie makeup, disturbing smiles and heavily edited facial features.

According to Chinese news site Sixth Tone, those responsible are scammers known as “ghost drivers”.

The idea is apparently that they terrify passengers into cancelling their trip, allowing the driver to pocket the cancellation fee (which is less than a dollar in China).

Another scamming method reported by the site is the “ghost drivers” accepting rides, and starting the metre before the passenger has even entered the vehicle. The customer will be taken for a ride worth a small sum of money without even realising.

Would you accept a ride from this guy?

“Uhhhhh... on second thought, I’ll walk.”

Of course, how they managed to get through Uber’s screening process with such pictures is another question altogether.

A spokesman from Uber China told Xinhua News Agency the company had suspended the suspect accounts.

news.com.au has contacted Uber for comment.

Earlier this year, the ride-sharing service introduced a facial recognition safety feature in order to ensure the drivers’ faces match their profile pictures when they first join the app.

It also runs regular facial recognition tests to ensure the driver behind the wheel matches their profile picture.

The software was created by Face++, a Chinese start-up specialising in facial recognition software.