Who Knew GPS Spoofing was a Thing for Uber and Lyft?

Who even knew GPS spoofing was a thing? Uber and Lyft, for starters, as their business models hinge on accurate location information to connect riders and drivers or food and product buyers with sellers. But the ride sharing companies know some drivers manipulate their location data for personal financial gain, to the detriment of other honest drivers, passengers and the ride sharing companies. 

It is difficult to estimate how extensive such spoofing might be, although in likely rare cases, the financial damage can run to scores of millions of dollars.  

But GPS feeds can be disrupted for any number of reasons, such as a vehicle entering a tunnel. But there are other ways for GPS location data to be inaccurate in urban areas with lots of tall buildings or tree cover. The algorithms ride sharing companies use to detect such anomalies mean some honest drivers will occasionally be de-platformed by mistake. 

Some Uber and Lyft drivers manipulate their GPS location through "GPS spoofing" to increase their earnings, as the apps use location to determine trip requests, fares, and bonuses, which gives drivers an incentive to try and "game" the system. 

In some cases, a coordinated group of drivers in a specific area, such as an airport queue, will all go offline simultaneously, causing a sudden drop in the number of available drivers, triggering a "surge" in fares for that location.

In a similar way, cheaters can use GPS spoofing to place themselves virtually in the airport queue, even when they are miles away.

In other cases, drivers might use GPS spoofing or multiple accounts to exploit incentive programs. A driver could create multiple fake passenger accounts on the same device and use GPS spoofers to create fraudulent trips to meet quotas and collect bonuses.

There are a range of ways to do such things. Drivers can use "fake GPS" applications, which does not require technology skill. Others might use “rooted devices” with access to operating systems, to use more sophisticated spoofing methods that are harder for apps to detect. 

Some techniques use multiple phones. Scammers might use one phone with a spoofed location to get into an airport queue virtually, then use a second phone to accept and complete trips in their actual location.

And while the potential revenue might not always be worth the investment, dishonest drivers can GPS signal generators that transmit fake GPS signals.

As always is the case, virtually any technology can be used for good or evil; honest purposes or dishonest.