Investigations by newsclickng.com have revealed how some Uber drivers in Nigeria (especially in highbrow areas in Lagos and Abuja) have been using a fake GPS itinerary app to illicitly increase fares for local riders.
In some cases, inflated trips can cost riders more than double the rate they should be paying.
Initially created for developers to “test geofencing-based apps,” Lockito, an Android app that lets your phone follow a fake GPS itinerary, is being used by Uber drivers in Lagos to inflate the cost of their trips.
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.
A top Lagos banker who was victim of the Uber fraud in Abuja on Tuesday (today) shared her experience with newsclickng.com
According to her, she ended up paying three thousand, three hundred Naira (N3,300:00) for a journey that should have cost just four hundred Naira only (N400:00).
In her words: I arrived Abuja this morning and called an Uber ride to take me to my destination. The app priced my ride at N3,300 and sent me a very nice classy looking Toyota Camry with a literate Driver who speaks real English.
I was impressed! Uber seems to have finally got their acts together in Nigeria, I mused in my mind. At the end of the ride, I settled the driver in cash (I never register my card for local rides) and went my way.
Minutes later, my receipt was emailed to me and….wait for this! I blinked severally, wiped my glasses and took another look…N400!!!! Really? For a 45 minute ride? And didn’t I just pay the Driver N3,300?
My analytical mind immediately came alive as I scrutinized the receipt, I noticed the destination and duration on the receipt were different and did not reflect my ride. Slowly it dawned on me that Nigerian uber Driver’s have learnt how to stay a step ahead and swindle Uber!!!
The rogue driver terminated my ride on the app 10 minutes into the ride and issued a receipt, meanwhile, he took me to my destination and pocketed the cash!!! I was so angry I sent a mail to Uber to report the incident, I have also vowed to stop using Uber locally. If they can manipulate the ride then the security comfort I thought I had with Uber may be false.
Once I had a ride turn up in a car with a different registration number and the driver said I should not worry because he has several cars and the one registered with Uber is at the mechanics.
I told him to take a ride to marine land! Why are Nigerians always looking to spoil any and every good thing or initiative?’ she asked enthusiastically.
Efforts by the newsclickng.com to reach the spokesperson of Uber Nigeria, Francesca Uriri for comments did not succeed at the time of filing this report.
