Uber Driver Helped Woman Who Was Robbed. In Return, She Raised $250K for His Daughter with Cancer (Exclusive)

From total strangers to found family, Becca Moore and Raul Torres are forever bonded by what they gave to each other in their own times of need.

In April 2022, Moore was stranded in the desert of Indio, California. The L.A.-based content creator — then 23 years old — was attending Coachella music festival when her phone, credit card and rental car keys were stolen by a stranger.

As Moore explained in a TikTok posted shortly after the incident, she initially believed the thief was flirting with her.

“I turned my back to him, and my friend heard him say, ‘I’m gonna make this girl talk to me tomorrow. I’m gonna steal her stuff,’ ” she said in one of several tell-alls and updates she’s shared about the incident. (She shared her most recent update in February 2024.)

The following day, Moore was able to arrange an Uber ride to a cell phone store with help from her hotel’s concierge. Her anxiety piled on during the commute, but looking back, Moore tells PEOPLE that her Uber driver, Torres, eased some of the stress as he asked about her wellbeing.

“I think he knew something was wrong, so he kept asking me questions,” she recalls. “I immediately trusted him … and I knew he was protective over me.”

Though she quickly sensed her driver’s kindness, Moore couldn’t have predicted that Torres would stick by her side the entire day. For zero charge, he drove her to get coffee, file a police report and eventually track down her phone and credit card. Only later did she learn why Torres started driving for Uber: to help pay for his teenage daughter’s cancer treatment.

Neither Moore nor Torres had time to eat during their full day of chasing her belongings, so they decided to have a bite together. The upstanding Uber driver opened up about his personal life during dinner and revealed that his daughter Myra was in chemotherapy. 

The viral personality, who has over 1.3 million followers on TikTok, says she immediately felt guilty for taking up Torres’ entire day. She was desperate to pay -

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it forward using her social media platform.

“I started being like, ‘Oh my God, I have followers on TikTok,’ ” she says, noting that Torres didn’t seem to understand what she was suggesting. 

When Moore got home, she set up a GoFundMe with a starting goal of $1,000. Hoping her followers would be moved to donate money, Moore shared her story online with a link to the donation page.

“The video went viral right away, and in 24 hours the GoFundMe hit $100,000,” she tells PEOPLE. A few days later, the Torres family’s page was up to $250,000.

Though they met under unlucky circumstances, Torres and Moore have formed a true bond as friends and remain constants in each other's lives. She says they catch up over lunches and gatherings at his home just outside of Los Angeles in Fresno, California.

“We keep in touch all the time … I spent Thanksgiving with their family in November, and we spend every birthday and big event together,” the Ohio native says. “It's so nice having them as a family in California, because I don't have one here.”

Moore has also become a big sister figure to Myra, who was declared cancer-free in October 2022. The TikToker traveled up to San Francisco with the Torres family to see Myra ring the bell after finishing treatment.

It’s been two years since Torres first aided Moore in her time of need, and they’re both still dedicated to helping each other however they can.

For her part, Moore still uses her online visibility to support the Torres family. She tells PEOPLE that chemotherapy took a long-term toll on Myra’s health, and she now needs a hip replacement. They’ve started a new GoFundMe page in hopes of raising funds for the operation.

“She's having a lot of pain in her hip and she has to use a wheelchair right now, everywhere she goes,” Moore explains, adding that Myra’s doctors hope a full replacement will have her walking normally again.

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