‘Tell me if I’m overreacting’: Woman hails Uber at 3am after a party. Then she notices suspicious behavior on his GPS

While rideshare apps such as Uber are common enough to feel relatively safe, as a woman, the feeling of entering a stranger’s car never really stops being scary.

A woman’s recent story on TikTok shows why many women still feel on guard when they take an Uber, especially late at night.

After leaving a party at 3 a.m., TikToker Amanda (@Chsamanda) says she and her friend got into an Uber they felt lucky to get out of at the end.

What Went Wrong During The Uber Ride?

“I had a scary Uber drive recently, and tell me if I’m overreacting,” Amanda says at the start of her video.

She explains that she and her friend needed to leave a party around 3 a.m. They ordered an Uber, but it took a while for a driver to accept the ride.

“When he finally accepted, it said he was like 25 minutes away,” she says. “We were in the middle of nowhere in like a dark grassy field and just wanted to go home.”

Then they noticed something odd on the app.

Amanda says the estimated arrival time first said 25 minutes. But after they waited for a while, it changed to 31 minutes.

“How is it longer than it was?” she recalls wondering.

So they started watching the driver on the map.

“We realized that it was a pretty straight shot from where he was to where we were,” she says. “But that he kept turning off of the road, turning around and going back the other way.”

Amanda called the driver and asked what was going on.

“It looks like you keep turning around and you’re not coming towards us,” she recalls telling him.

According to Amanda, the driver “sounded really off,” and told her he had two phones and was using the GPS.

“This is where we probably should have just canceled the ride and just chose to wait longer for a new ride,” she says. “But we were desperate for a ride at this point.”

Then it happened again. Amanda says the driver got about 10 minutes closer, then started going backwards. She called again and asked whether they should cancel.

“He’s like, ‘No, no, no. I’m coming this time. I promise. Stay put. I’m on my way,’” she recalls.

The Uber Driver Finally Arrived

When the driver finally arrived, Amanda says he pulled into the dark lot and got out of his truck to open the back door for them.

She realized something scary immediately.

“As soon as he closes the door, I realized that it was one of those trucks that you have to get out of the front seat and open your door in order to even open the door to the back,” she says.

At that point, Amanda says they realized they could not open their own doors.

“We are trapped in the back of this Uber,” she says. “And we have no way to open our own car doors to get out.”

She says the Uber app offered her the option to record audio during the ride.

“Every part of me was screaming to do that,” she says. “So I started hitting record on my phone.”

Instead of turning around and heading back toward the paved road, Amanda says the driver continued farther into the dark field.

“He goes further into the field on the dirt road, telling us that he knows that there’s another way out of this field and that he’s been here before and to, like, trust him,” she says.

She says the driver then started driving around the property, off a dirt road and into the grass.

At one point, Amanda noticed another issue: the truck had only 10 miles of gas left. Their destination was about 20 miles away.

“I said to him, I was like, hey, it looks like you don’t even have enough gas to get us to where we’re supposed to go,” she says. “Like, what’s your plan there?”

According to Amanda, he did not answer.

They Decided to Get Out of the Car

Eventually, Amanda and her friend saw what looked like a security trailer and asked him to let them out so they could ask for directions.

“He stops the truck, opens the door, and lets us out to go to the security trailer,” she says. “And immediately her and I know we’re not getting back in that truck.”

The trailer had lights and TV screens on, but nobody appeared to be inside. So Amanda says they canceled the ride and ran to hide.

“We find a shipping container that the door is cracked open, and we open it, turn our phone brightnesses all the way down, close the door behind us, and we’re, like, waiting for him to leave,” she says.

Amanda says the driver stayed there with the truck running even after they canceled the ride. He began driving slowly around the area.

Finally, a security car appeared. Amanda says the Uber driver then left.

“As soon as I saw the security car, I flew out of that trailer,” she says. “I run up to the security guard, and I was like, we need help.”

Amanda says the security guard listened to their story, agreed something seemed wrong, and waited with them until they got another Uber.

They did not get back to their hotel until around 5 a.m.

“I don’t know if it’s just me, but something about that entire thing seemed off,” Amanda says. “There were probably three times that I should have gotten out of that situation.”

She says she reported the driver through Uber.

“Pretty sure being on, like, empty in your gas and also having a vehicle where people can’t get out of the back seat is not OK,” she says.

How Can You Stay Safe While Taking An Uber?

Uber has a list of tips it recommends for riders.

Uber has a list of tips it recommends for users to stay safe while ridesharing. Those include making sure you get into the right car and having the driver confirm your name before entering. To safely exchange names, Uber suggests that instead of asking, “Are you here for [your name]?” you ask, “Who are you here to pick up?”

Once the ride has begun, you can share a link to your trip with someone you trust so they can track your ride and ETA. That way, if anything goes wrong, they know exactly where you are and how to report it to authorities.

It’s also important to trust your instincts, just like Amanda and her friend did. If you feel that something is wrong or your safety is in jeopardy, don’t hesitate to act. Uber also has a 911 emergency button in the app that connects you with a dispatcher.

Commenters Were Horrified

In the comments, several viewers said Amanda was not overreacting.

“So glad you’re okay but I have a few questions,” one commenter wrote. “Why a field (especially 3am), how did you get there, did you call 911, did you report the drive, where was everyone else? Girllll, you were almost in a documentary!”

Amanda responded that they had been there for a party and that, in that city, bars do not close until 4 a.m.

“We had ubered there since we were on a little girls trip and we didn’t expect to stay that late since we weren’t drinking,” she wrote.

She said they were about to call police when the security car pulled up, and that she did report the ride to Uber.

“They refunded the ride but I didn’t hear anything more from them,” she wrote. “They have the audio recording though!”

Another viewer said they avoid rideshare apps altogether.

“Honestly, I don’t know how anyone uses Uber or Lyft,” they wrote. “You’re essentially giving control over your life to a stranger. Glad you’re safe.”

“Glad we have instincts,” a third commenter wrote.

@chsamanda What’s the saying? Survival instincts of a what? #uber #uberstories #scary #storytime @Elisa Noel ♬ original sound – Chsamanda ?

The Mary Sue has reached out to Amanda via TikTok and Instagram messages. We’ve also contacted Uber via email for comment.

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