Uber's 'Vomit Fraud' Sounds Worse Than Surge Pricing

We gave a driver a 3-star rating for being a particularly bad driver (driving aggressively, cursing at other drivers etc).

Later that day, my girlfriend (whose account we had used for the ride) got a warning/strike on her Uber account because a driver had reported her for "making racist remarks in his vehicle and making his driving experience uncomfortable".

For the record we had barely spoken a word in the car during the ride, as we were both quite tired. Our driver spoke more than we did and it was mostly obscene complaints about other drivers and cars on the road.

We concluded it had to be the same driver, as we hadn't taken another Uber in a few days, so it was basically retaliation.

The email said that if enough of these reports are received she would be removed from the platform and her account would be shut down. There didn't seem to be any recourse or appeals process noted in the email..

So I wonder if this is a sneaky way for drivers to punish passengers for bad ratings..

How do you prove/disprove this kind of accusation?

EDIT: The original Miami Herald article people have now linked def paints a bit of a different picture.

Seems like it would solve a lot of the he said / she said arguments discussed in the articles, at a relatively low cost footprint. I guess economically, the cost of 'fraud' would have to outweigh the cost of dash cams.

That's the story.

He cannot simply steal money from my bank account and make me fight to get it back.

In many countries, the previous scammy taxi drivers are now Uber drivers. I thus expect "vomit fraud" to expand unless Uber manages to control it.