How Drivers Can Get Deactivated For Using ‘Fake GPS’ Apps

Did you know that drivers can actually get deactivated for using fake GPS apps? I’m going to tell you how and why Uber deactivates drivers for doing this. If you’re not familiar with these apps, basically what they’re called are fake GPS or GPS spoofing apps. They’re primarily available on Android phones, and basically what they do is trick your phone into thinking you’re in a different location.

Check out my video on GPS spoofing apps, then read the transcript below if you’d like to see what I cover in writing.

Why some drivers use GPS spoofing apps

Let’s say that I live in Los Angeles. If I download a GPS spoofing app and then I change my location to Washington, DC, now my phone and all the apps in my phone that use GPS will think that I’m in Washington, DC. That’s basically the crux of what these apps do. Basically, any apps that use GPS data, they now think you’re in this new place or this new city.

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Now, there are actually a lot of legitimate reasons to have an app like this. I’ve actually used these apps to test the limits of the destination filter, then I explained how it works in an article. That was a pretty legitimate reason that I wanted to test and see where and how it worked, where the boundaries were, and things like that. I think that was a pretty legitimate reason.

I’ve also used it to test to see if I can drive in other cities when I’m traveling or things like that. Most drivers don’t know, but with Lyft, you can actually drive in any state in the country, but there are a few cities where you can’t drive. If you’re planning a road trip or something like that, you might want to log in and see if you can log in in these Lyft cities and see if you can get a request. There’s definitely legitimate reasons where and when these apps could come in handy.

Shadier practices that Uber frowns on

You can also imagine that there’s some more nefarious uses of these apps. One that I know is that drivers are actually being deactivated for is spoofing the Uber Driver app into thinking you’re in a different location. When drivers are doing this, I see that they’re actually putting themselves into the airport queue. Let’s say there’s a 45 minute wait at the airport queue and you’re at home, you spoof yourself into the airport queue and then you can sit at home for another 30 minutes and then you go drive over to the airport queue. When you’re in the airport queue, you take the GPS spoofing off, and the Uber app still thinks that you’re there. That’s one that I think is obviously super fraudulent and against Uber’s terms of service. I know drivers have done this.

Other drivers are using this to spoof their location into a surge area. I get reports of this happening from a few drivers here and there, and as soon as I heard about it, I really knew it was a bad idea. Not only is it basically fraudulent, but Uber actually has this whole fraud department, and it’s pretty easy for them to see you jumping locations from half a mile or a quarter mile. Obviously, a car would never be able to do that, so you actually can get in a lot of trouble and you will get deactivated for doing this.

The Uber app warns you when you’re using a spoofing app

If you don’t believe me, I actually have a little evidence for you. When I was testing this for the destination filter a few weeks ago, I actually spoofed my location into another area of Los Angeles so that I could see where the boundary was. I got this notification from the Uber app, “False location detected.” That’s actually the notification that popped up. It says, “Please disable any app that may be falsifying your location. Also, try turning your wi-fi off and then on again to ensure your location is accurate.” I actually got that notice while I was using this app. Obviously, Uber’s aware of it.

I didn’t get deactivated I think probably because I just did it pretty quickly, and when I got that notice, I was pretty scared. I was like, “Oh crap, I should probably turn this off and stop messing around with it,” even though I wasn’t trying to use it in that nefarious way. I was actually using it for a good way, I think, at least. As a general rule of thumb, if you guys are trying to cheat the system, you’re eventually going to get caught. Uber’s not stupid.

It’s not worth losing your job for this

Believe it or not, Uber knows about a lot of these things that are going on, and they don’t always deactivate drivers for it, but it’s definitely possible that they will in the future. If you depend on this income or if you just want to be a good person in general, which I think everyone should strive to be, you probably shouldn’t be using some of these types of apps. Now, there’s some situations that are more of a grey area. I think this is pretty much in the black that drivers should not be using this. If you do end up using this or if you’re a driver or you know a driver who’s using this, I think it’s a good and pretty safe bet that they’re eventually going to get deactivated for it, so probably not a good idea if you’re using it for these types of purposes.

Hopefully this video was interesting you guys. Definitely feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions. I’m sure you’ll have some feedback. Let me know if you’ve seen other drivers using this, what you think, should Uber be deactivating these drivers? I say yes. Do you say something different? If you like this video, give me a like, give me a thumb’s up, and feel free to subscribe to the channel. We got lots more great content.

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