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The Underground Uber Networks Driven by Russian Hackers (thedailybeast.com)
Joseph Cox, reporting for DailyBeat: Uber's ride-sharing service has given birth to some of the most creative criminal scams to date, including using a GPS-spoofing app to rip off riders in Nigeria, and even ginning up fake drivers by using stolen identities. Add to those this nefariously genius operation: Cybercriminals, many working in Russia, have created their own illegitimate taxi services for other crooks by piggybacking off Uber's ride-sharing platform, sometimes working in collaboration with corrupt drivers. Based on several Russian-language posts across a number of criminal-world sites, this is how the scam works: The scammer needs an emulator, a piece of software which allows them to run a virtual Android phone on their laptop with the Uber app, as well as a virtual private network (VPN), which routes their computer's traffic through a server in the same city as the rider. The scammer acts, in essence, as a middleman between an Uber driver and the passenger -- ordering trips through the Uber app, but relaying messages outside of it. Typically, this fraudulent dispatcher uses the messaging app Telegram to chat with the passenger, who provides pickup and destination addresses. The scammer orders the trip, and then provides the car brand, driver name, and license plate details back to the passenger through Telegram.
I've RTFA and I still can't figure out ... what's the scam? Someone is ordering a ride, someone is driving, someone is paying for the ride.
Last analysis I read said Uber is already burning investor money faster than they're making it, trying to grow and corner the market. If these guys are just providing the same service as Uber, how are they making any money?
Nope, no sig
I'm a Russian Prince and I need your help to transfer a gazillion rubles I 'inherited' into your country....
There is no "alt-left". The term you are looking for is "ctrl-left".
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
These Russian hackers are now like the monster in the closet who gets blamed for everything. This is just a re-seller scam, not a hack.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Does this enterprise only take gold coins?
Don't Panic.
As long as Uber gets the customer and gets what it wants to be paid, where is the scam?
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
https://it.slashdot.org/commen...
Hey, I'm on a Mac and it's cmd-left!
This is a story about fraud. It involves Russians. If your point is that it shouldn't be on slashdot, you're wrong, it's a tech story. If your point is that people vilify Russians, you're wrong, these ones are villains. If your point is that the president isn't awful, you're wrong. Obviously. I mean holy fuck.
Who cares if it's Russians?!? Yes, it says Russians in the tile, but I didn't consider their nationality when I read the story, I just saw them as hackers.
And while I positively condemn their their thievery and fraud in the strongest possible terms, I kind of admire their creative, nee, hacker spirit.
My hope is that people read Russia in the title and don't think it connotatively means "evil enemy". Rather, my hope is that people read Russia and simply think of it as a place.
Oh, and perhaps because this is Slashdot, I would sort of hope that perhaps the reader would think of and respect the long history and tradition of the hacker spirit in Russia.
Did Vlad send out a new strategy memo? Pretend new stories about your shitty country are boring?
Head back to Facebook, Dmitry.
uber is bypassing local government regulations to make money.
somebody else(russians?) are bypassing uber to make money.
end of story.
Should always read: Uber's unlicensed taxi service
If you cry bloody hell against having a regulated market, don't whine when there is no way to protect you from people taking advantage of it. This is where a deregulated market goes to.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Not Russian hackers. They're not hacking anything.
They're using Uber to launder stolen credit cards
I'm Elon Musk, you insensitive clod!
Go $MY_TEAM! Fuck $THEIR_TEAM, they're bad people!
Donald Trump took a dump in my crapper and didn't flush! Then Putin pissed in my sink - and didn't wash it out! And THEN Kim Jong Whatshisface drank all my beer! Those goddamned Canadian bastards!!