Technical Glitch: Ola App Sends False Booking Notifications To Users On Tuesday, users complained of receiving notifications from the ride-hailing app without making any bookings; money deducted from wallet without availing ride in some cases, claimed users on Twitter
By Debarghya Sil •
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In a mysterious development, India's homegrown cab aggregator Ola Cabs on Tuesday sent notifications to multiple users. Strangely, the users concerned did not even attempt to book a cab through its platform.
Notifications such as "Your ride is on the way' or "Your ride is here' were sent to users. The in-app notifications also shared the name of the driver, vehicle number and the required one-time-password (OTP)) to start the ride. If the ride was cancelled, in some cases it even attempted to automatically book another ride. However, once clicked on the notification, the app opens up to a fresh page with no sign or indication of a booked cab.
Srijan Agarwal, a Bengaluru-based user, said he was receiving random booking notifications from Ola. Agarwal recalled that he started getting such notifications from 6PM which continued till midnight.
Ola has been sending me random booking notifications, kon hai bey iska PM.
— Srijan Agarwal (@srijancse) January 19, 2021
Anand Prakash, an ethical hacker, too, received such notifications since 11:30PM. "I was able to see OTP, driver's name, cab number of some other ride. In another notification, I saw some other trip has ended," shared Prakash.
People over social media have expressed annoyance about such in-app notifications as well.
@Olacabs Hi Team, I am getting multiple notifications for cabs, which I haven't booked. Seems like a glitch. please check and confirm pic.twitter.com/UhNNlccfVu
— Akanksh (@aks198902) January 19, 2021
@Olacabs whats wrong man!! The cabs are getting auto booked and auto cancelled?? pic.twitter.com/01DyzmbNOr
— Aditya Vasant Shinde (@aditya300894) January 19, 2021
@Olacabs what is up with your apps? It keeps showing me that some rides are booked from the moment I decided to upgrade payment. I've no asked for any ride and there's no ride outside my house!! pic.twitter.com/AQm1TKSvwY
— Snailking (@RantiScreamer_) January 19, 2021
In an alarming instance, money from Ola wallet was even deducted from the account because of the false ride.
Fed up with @ola_supports @Olacabs notification after every two mins. Even though I haven't booked any cab. Huhhh. Plz stop now pic.twitter.com/TxYrhGyGos
— debapriya dutta (@debapriyadutta1) January 19, 2021
@Olacabs . Team, I haven't booked any cab or auto , they are getting automatically booked and payment deducted. Please check on this. pic.twitter.com/F2EPCy31b5
— Raghunath T P (@TPRaghunath) January 20, 2021
The issue seems to have been across the country. Entrepreneur India confirmed that the said problems were reported from Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai, at least.
Upon asking Ola over Twitter, the company responded: ""Hi, Apologies for any inconvenience caused. Please be advised that this is some technical issue and the same has been highlighted to the relevant team."
However, since Wednesday morning no such notifications were further received by users.
Entrepreneur India reached out to Ola for an official comment and the copy will be updated once a response is received.
