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Uber Drivers In Lagos Are Using a Fake GPS App To Inflate Rider Fares (qz.com)
According to Quartz, some Uber drivers in Lagos have been using a fake GPS itinerary app called Lockito to illicitly bump up fares for local drivers. The app was initially created for developers to "test geofencing-based apps," but has been used by Uber drivers to inflate the cost of their trips. From the report: In some cases, inflated trips can cost riders more than double the rate they should be paying. "It's more like a parasite," says Mohammed, a driver for both Uber and Taxify in Lagos. "It sets the false GPS movement while allowing the phone also to keep track of its actual movement. The Uber app can't tell the difference between both so it just calculates both." When a driver uses Lockito for an Uber trip he or she can have the fake GPS running (and calculating a fake fare) from the pickup point to the drop off location, before the passenger has even got into the car. When the real trip starts, the real GPS starts running and calculating the actual fare. But at the end of the journey the fares from both trips (real and fake) are tallied up as one fare which the unsuspecting rider pays. Some drivers use Lockito to inflate fares by adding 1000 naira to 2000 naira extra (roughly $3 to $6) but some drivers are believed to inflate fares to exorbitant levels.
One way to stick it to the Man!
"[Lockito] sets the false GPS movement. have the [Lockito] fake GPS running (and calculating a fake fare) from the pickup point to the drop off location, before the passenger has even got into the car."
Why is "movement" involved in calculating a fare from a pickup point to a dropoff location? Surely this is done using a map. "Movement" makes it sound like fare calculation works by driving a physical dry run of the planned journey, over real roads but without a passenger, which is ridiculous.
What does GPS have to do with maps? I understand driver slang, "I got a GPS for my car," means I got a Tom-tom or some other computer full of maps that incidentally has a GPS receiver to help center the map, but the maps are its main feature. However altering GPS coordinates can't alter map data.
Can we get an explanation of what's going on that uses words according to their true meanings instead of this fuzzy-headed nonsense?
This seems extremely easy to catch. Just use the Uber app to keep track of driver and customer during the ride.
In most countries like Lagos normal Taxi rate depends if you are local, know language, foreigner, or from USA. I recall a a case where Taxi driver took me for a ride in my home town (in US). Going from an airport, he assumed I was a tourist, so he got of the highway drove a mile, made 4 right turns to get back on the same highway. At least Uber can adjust app and control drives better.
I thought you had to be.a corrupt taxi driver to do something like this. Hm, I guess stuff like this happens in 'the free market' after all. Go figure.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Just make sure the rider and the driver's GPS show the same route. If the routes differ, somebody (one or both) is scamming the system. Keep tracking enough fares, and it will become apparent who's scamming and who you can trust. Couple that with a bit of post processing the reported route being charged verses the total time and known traffic conditions, it's going to be really clear what's going on and then Uber can correct the charges.
Eventually, armed with a zero tolerance policy that prescribes an ever increasing level of punishment for those who attempt to scam and reimbursement for ill gotten gains, you will weed out the bad apples. You won't get away with doing this very long before Uber gives you the boot and the problem corrects itself.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
... that Uber ain't got its shit together.
Employees, employers, and customers have always taken advantage of any weaknesses on the other's part.
This is not a major problem because Uber will move to fix this one problem and fix another when someone does their QA for them.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Coming reviews: "Over-charged. Swindling thief. One bullet."
can't "big data Uber" figure this out, claw back the payments, fire the drivers and refund the customers?
oh wait.. they'll lose their cut of the profits too.
If the app sees the entire trip completed in a few micro seconds, should it not detect the near light speed travel?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The drivers Quartz spoke with said Lockito or “Locki”, is simply a reaction to Uber’s 40% slash of its base fare implemented in May. Many drivers were unhappy about the price drop and there were a series of protests which had little impact.
Yeah, I'd be pissed too...
THey will place themselves close to a high location so that they are allocated passengers first....
when you book then they take a long time to come... even if the road empty.
The same country that has become famous after the "Nigerian scam"? Who would have thought.
Well ... there you have it ... in front of you.
and they're retaliate as best they can. It'd be nice to live in a world where I'm not constantly either being a mark or feeling like I should be turning others into marks.
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I am shocked! Shocked, I tell you!
Palaces, barricades, threats, meet promises
In India, a similar ride hailing app (Ola) generates a 4 digit password for each ride, displayed to the rider. When you get in, you give this password to the driver and only then does the trip officially start. This would solve this problem
basically all the old reasons everyone claimed as a need to ditch taxis for something like Uber are now the exact same trustworthy issues faced with Uber.
Just like my mobile phone provider!
One solution: regulate the activity, standardise metering equipment, licence the drivers, and control all this via a government-linked organization. Of course it will no be as cheap, but lots of problems are thus avoided/reduced. We could even call that "Taxis". By the way, I've never been to Lagos so maybe I'm talking out of my ass, but in the sub-saharian cities that I know, taxis are so cheap and plentiful that I don't see the point of having an Uber service at all. It usually takes about 30 seconds to find a taxi. Long-distance can be different but then that's not Uber's domain. And if you are a foreigner and want something more upscale than the 20 years old Toyota with worn tires and no brakes, there are usually good limo/driver services at the hotel.
The downside is that it would require the passenger's GPS to be actively tracking their position, draining battery. Currently the passenger's GPS isn't involved in tracking the trip at all. When you open the app it shows you the location reported by the driver's device.
It's an uncountable noun. No plural. Lago.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Once in a while the Nigerian Scam Prince seems to be telling the truth!
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
You can't be affected by this if you don't go to Lagos!
Think about it!
Do you realise how redundant the word 'Nigerian' is in that sentence? Are you fucking stupid as well as a dumbass racist hick?
When I use Uber it knows my location and destination and gives me the fare in advance. I get billed that no matter what route the driver takes so distance doesn't seem to be a factor in the final fare price. If fares get changed in Lagos based on the spoofed distance, it would seem to be easy for Uber to find the scammers. Drivers would either be traveling at unrealistic speeds based on the time of travel and distance reported or not be available if the don't close out the trip and take far to long for the trip. Since it adds the two trips it would seem easy for Uber to compare the reported length, duration and fare vs an Uber standard length, duration and fare and detect scammers; refund passengers and withhold payments from drivers.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Do you realise how redundant the word 'Nigerian' is in that sentence? Are you fucking stupid as well as a dumbass racist hick?
Do you think Nigerians are the only ones who scam by email?
This is why I use a cab. They are regulated by cities and states. However, as in NYC, be aware that if you pass by the airport 3 or more times, you are being taken for a ride.
And you can't spell njigger without njigeria. Moral: don't trust taxi drivers, whatever race or color they are.