Warning: Graphic content
An Ottawa mother is speaking out after an alleged incident involving an Uber Eats driver in Kanata this month.
The mother, who CTV News is not identifying, says her 12-year-old daughter ordered Uber Eats during a sleepover with a friend after midnight on Aug. 3. Her daughter opened an account using a Mydoh card and ordered without her knowledge, the mother said. Mydoh is a money app kids and teens can use to spend and learn how to budget.
The mother said her daughter and a friend each ordered a Frosty and met the delivery driver at the door of their Kanata home.
“She ended up telling me later that he asked for her number to verify it was her and she said, ‘do you really need that?’ And he said, ‘well, you could either give me your number or you could give me the last four digits,’” the woman said. “Then he also told her and her friend that they looked very mature.”
“And then about an hour later somebody was knocking on the door and rang the doorbell. And they found that there was a brown paper bag that said her name, was addressed to her, and said, ‘from your secret admirer,’ and it had candy in it.”
They didn’t know who it was from but installed security cameras the next night, something they had already been planning to do.
On Aug. 16, nearly two weeks later, another package showed up on the porch addressed to her daughter.
“Inside had candy, a $20 bill and a note that said to (her name) from your secret admirer with a phone number on it. And we looked at our cameras and we saw that it was an older man.”
She said her daughter identified the man as the delivery driver and discovered the same white car had passed by their home in Kanata multiple times in the overnight hours on different days.
“It’s very unnerving. I have not been able to sleep,” she said, adding that she’s worried for her daughter and remains on high alert.
Ottawa police are investigating.
In a statement to CTV News, An Uber spokesperson said, “this behaviour is unacceptable and has no place on the Uber platform.”
“We take reports like this extremely seriously, and as soon as it was reported, the delivery person’s access to the app was removed.”
The company added it has a “dedicated team standing by to support law enforcement with their investigation.”
The woman said she’s speaking out to raise awareness.
“I would have never imagined, even if I had known that she was ordering Uber, that going to the door, something like this would happen. I think it’s really important for parents to know and to talk to their kids so it doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
