Detecting Fraud for Uber • Amelia Liu

(Risk Strategy Analyst, Uber || CA USA)

“I find tech to be powerful. It can solve problems in a matter of weeks, when it would take us a months when I worked in operations. Every time I thought of how to make a bigger impact, I was always drawn back to tech. I want to be making the biggest difference I can. I love math and science, I studied industrial & systems engineering, and I have the capability to be on a heavily analytical team. I am a risk analyst on the fraud team at Uber. We stop bad drivers, riders, and behavior on the platform to prevent loss of driver income or poor rider experience. I work on global airport fraud, where we create models and analyze trends to detect fraudulent driver behavior in the app. When drivers are waiting for an airport trip all day and they don’t get a single ride because a fraudulent driver cuts the queue, they don’t make income that day. It impacts their well-being. What motivates me is stopping the bad guys to make it a more fair environment for other drivers.

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In an Asian-American household, being a lawyer, doctor, or engineer is the gold standard of careers parents desire their kids to pursue. I witnessed my brother — who switched from pre-med to art and design three weeks into college — receive initial skepticism from my parents, especially since he was their first born. But it was natural for me to choose a career in STEM because I always excelled in math, science, and problem solving. Coming from an Asian culture, this is what my parents wanted of me, but it’s also what I wanted. I was lucky and thankful that it aligned well. STEM was most alluring to me because it seemed like it was going to be the most challenging. And I’ve always loved a challenge. Every step of me pushing to choose engineering, join a more technical team, serve in a more analytical role, has been through support of so many people telling me: ‘Yes, you can do this.’ Find others who are going to believe in you.”