Payment Service and Fraud Detection in Uber Design

Design the payment workflow around durable intent, provider outcomes, and reconciliation. Then examine fraud detection as a decision process that must balance missed fraud against incorrect blocks.

The proposed payment service charges riders and records amounts owed to drivers. After trip completion, it computes the fare under the agreed policy and initiates the required money movements. Finishing a trip, collecting funds, and disbursing driver earnings are distinct events; one service response should not collapse them into a single “paid” state.

Major functionality

The proposed platform needs these payment operations:

• New payment options: Integrates new payment methods for users.

• Authorization: Requests approval from the payment provider and, for eligible methods, reserves funds for later capture. This does not establish that settlement has completed.

• Refund: Returns funds from a captured payment. Canceling an uncaptured authorization releases a hold and is a different operation.

• Charging: Captures or otherwise initiates collection through the selected payment method, then tracks its outcome and settlement.

What to prevent

To ensure the success of the payment system, we must prevent the following scenarios: