Woman goes viral after claiming she was KIDNAPPED by sex traffickers when she mistakenly got into the wrong Uber on a trip to Florida
- Emmy Hurley said getting into the wrong car was 'the scariest moment of my life'
- She claimed in a Facebook post that she was kidnapped by a woman pretending to be her Uber driver in Tampa Bay, Florida on Monday
- She realized after her intended airport driver called to check where she was
- Hurley said she asked the wrong driver to stop but when she kept going she 'booked it out the door, car still moving' and the woman 'sped off'
- Correct driver described it as the 'LONGEST, SCARIEST 5 min of my life'
- She said she heard the wrong driver yelling in a 'foreign accent' and thought Hurley would be 'shipped away' by sex traffickers
- Cops said Hurley apparently had a language barrier with the wrong driver
- Uber told DailyMail.com Thursday the wrong driver did work for the company
- They 'encouraged riders to use the driver, car and license plate information' and warned 'fake posts' had 'created a lot of misinformation' about their drivers
A New England woman claimed she was kidnapped by a sex trafficking worker after getting into the wrong Uber - but police say it was just a misunderstanding because of a language barrier.
Emmy Hurley's Tuesday post went viral with half a million shares by Thursday, after she told how she hopped into a vehicle that was not her ride-share on Monday night.
She said the female driver had the same car as the one she was waiting for and she only realized she wasn't being taken to her correct destination while on the trip in Tampa Bay, Florida after receiving a call from the right pick-up.
Emmy Hurley said getting into the wrong car Monday was 'the scariest moment of my life'
She claimed in a Facebook post Tuesday that she was being kidnapped by a woman pretending to be her Uber driver in Tampa Bay, Florida
She realized after her intended Uber driver Cristin Cinquino called to ask where she was
'I got in before checking, as she opened the back door for me from her seat. She drove erratically and didn't speak. About 10 minutes in, my actual Uber called me asking where I was. My voice cracked, because in that instant I knew,' she wrote in a dramatic Facebook post.
Hurley – who currently lives in Hawaii - explained in the public post that she covertly tried to signal she was in a bad situation by explaining she was in a car and 'I think I need help'.
She said her assigned Uber driver urged her to get out of the vehicle however she could but claimed the person behind the wheel of the car would not comply.
'The lady refused to stop or respond to me. I told her she was driving by my friends (random girls I saw) and they would call the cops,' Hurley continued. 'She slowed a little, pointing at her phone saying "Uber. I take you back then." I said, no here is fine.'
Hurley added that when the driver kept going she 'booked it out the door, car still moving' and the woman 'sped off'.
Hurley also claimed in the post she'd been informed by 'numerous people' the driver was a 'sex traffic worker'.
Hurley added that she asked the wrong driver to stop but when she kept going she 'booked it out the door, car still moving' and the woman 'sped off'
The correct driver described the experience as the 'LONGEST, SCARIEST 5 min of my life' in a post that has been deleted. She said she heard the wrong driver yelling in a 'foreign accent'
'They use women to lure people in, and possibly hang out in the Uber lot to steal rides of similar looking cars,' Hurley alleged. 'The cops didn't come, but my real Uber driver did Cristin Cinquino, and hugged me, kept me safe, and cried with me.'
Hurley called it 'the scariest moment of my life' in an interview with News Channel 8 which she told she didn't immediately notify police because she needed to stay in contact with her intended Uber pilot.
However law enforcement denied Hurley's claim she was being kidnapped Wednesday morning.
'She got into the wrong Uber car. It has nothing to do with sex trafficking,' Tampa Police Department spokesman Eddy Durkin told the publication, adding it was apparent there was a language barrier issue.
The correct driver also described the experience as the 'LONGEST, SCARIEST 5 min of my life'.
In a post that has now been deleted, Cinquino explained that Hurley told her on the phone: 'I think I got in a car that's not an uber, I NEED HELP.'
Police said Hurley was apparently experiencing a language barrier with a driver in the mix-up
Possibly confirming there may have been a language barrier, Cinquino said the wrong driver 'kept yelling at her to calm down and saying 'i'm uber driver' in a foreign accent'.
Cinquino revealed she instructed Hurley to leap from the car even if was in motion and her Facebook post alleged the wrong driver was 'likely headed to a warehouse near the port or directly to a boat where they ship all these victims away'.
The correct driver – who said in the post she does airport pickups because 'I figured they wouldn't be drunk and are probably somewhat sane if they just got off a plane' – went on to made more allegations about the wrong driver.
'I'm pretty sure this woman was watching me and when she saw me get a ride on my phone, she left before me, in the same type of car, and picked up my rider,' she wrote. Adding about Hurley: 'It was late, she was tired as her flight was delayed a few hours and made a mistake that likely almost cost her her life.'
Uber has teamed up with organizations such as ECPAT-USA, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), The McCain Institute, Polaris and Thorn for several years to help raise awareness among drivers about how to spot and report human trafficking.
They have a driver resource page and send educational information to all drivers in the United States through the app and at driver support hubs. Uber also provides drivers with the Polaris National Human Trafficking hotline and have hosted sessions on trafficking for drivers on this issue.
The company however denied the stories about the wrong driver.
They told DailyMail.com Thursday that the driver of the car the rider accidentally got into was working with Uber and said after the rider exited her car, the driver returned to the airport, picked up the correct rider and dropped them off at their intended destination.
Uber told DailyMail.com Thursday that the driver of the car the rider accidentally got into was working with the company and said after the rider exited her car, the driver returned to the airport, picked up the correct rider and dropped them off at their intended destination
'We encourage riders to use the driver, car and license plate information they receive in the app to verify they are getting into the right vehicle. We've been in touch with the driver, rider and local law enforcement to clarify the misinformation that has been circulating,' a spokesperson said in a statement.
Citing other 'fake posts' related to Uber and human trafficking recently in Boston (Cambridge) area and in Atlanta before the Super Bowl', the San Francisco company said in a statement that those stories have been debunked by law enforcement but had already been shared many times on social media that they had 'created a lot of misinformation'.
Uber warned that getting into the wrong car means the passenger 'won't have the benefit of all the safety features built into the Uber app', including GPS tracking, ability to share details of the trip, and the two-way feedback system.
Last April, they announced they're adding new safety features and improvements to their screening process including 'centralizing safety information in the app, an emergency button for 911 assistance, re-running driving and criminal background screening annually and monitoring of new offense data'.
They also announced additional safety features in September including new Ride Check features, address anonymization and two-factor authentication.
Uber said they 'encourage riders to use the driver, car and license plate information' and warned 'fake posts' had 'created a lot of misinformation' about their drivers
