Man robbed after getting in car he thought was his shared-ride vehicle

A case of mistaken identity put a man in harm's way over the weekend.

He was kidnapped and robbed in what he thought was a ride share, according to San Francisco Police.

A 10-minute ride through SoMa must have felt like an eternity for a man kidnapped and robbed early Saturday morning.

It was around 6 a.m. when the 26-year-old  requested a ride share to pick him up at 11th and Folsom in San Francisco.

"He was new to the ride share services and saw a car thought it was his ride share, got into the vehicle and he saw that there was a driver and a passenger in the back seat," said Officer Robert Rueca, public information officer with SFPD.

Police say no words were ever exchanged until the suspects demanded his wallet.

"During that drive the vehicle stopped, the person in the backseat held the person down and both the driver and the person in the back seat robbed the victim of their property," said Officer Rueca with SFPD.

The victim was finally able to escape near 4th and Harrison to call 911.
Police say this was a crime of opportunity.

"We don't believe that this person was posing as a ride share driver. We don't have that information at this time," said Officer Rueca.

We found a woman waiting for a ride, in the same area, who says she's also heard about people jumping into the wrong car.

"My friend was just driving and she came up to a stop sign and someone tried to get into her car thinking that she was their Uber or Lyft and she doesn't have any of the patches on her car or anything and she said it was kinda freaky," said Celina Hennessey of Oakland.

San Francisco police don't have any leads on the suspects, or their vehicles.

They're warning people to be vigilant and cautious about whose car they're getting into, or to ride in marked cabs. They want to remind people to also confirm the driver's name and license plate before stepping into the vehicle.