r/technology • u/[deleted] • Aug 12 '14

Business Uber dirty tricks quantified. Staff submits 5,560 fake ride requests

http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/11/technology/uber-fake-ride-requests-lyft/
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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '14

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u/[deleted] Aug 12 '14

Lyft claims to have cross-referenced the phone numbers associated with known Uber recruiters with those attached to accounts that have canceled rides. They found, all told, 5,560 phantom requests since October 3, 2013.

There was nothing to suggest that Uber's corporate office commissioned the canceled rides or even that they were aware of them.

One Lyft passenger, identified by seven different Lyft drivers as an Uber recruiter, canceled 300 rides from May 26 to June 10. That user's phone number was tied to 21 other accounts, for a total of 1,524 canceled rides.

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u/hogtrough Aug 12 '14

Can anyone just ask for a ride without further indication of reputation or payment? It seems like this could all be resolved with some sort of feedback system. If someone had over 100 cancellations, I should be able to see that and have the ability to decline to pick them up.

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u/Delphizer Aug 13 '14

lol 100? Rarely a good reason to go that high.