4 ms·

Lyft vs. Uber: Visualizing fraud patterns

21 points by jvilledieu 12y ago

trhway 12y ago
as somebody already mentioned, Rockefeller who is probably more important for building a modern economy even than Ford (Ford was important for building industrial economy which is going away while Rockefeller's foundation is still the foundation of the modern post-industrial economy), didn't achieve it by being a good, or even by being just minimally honest. Quite opposite actually. In this case i'd expect that, like in case of AirBNB's "contractors" spamming Craigslist, Uber would officially claim having no idea that their "contractors" have been engaged in such practices (an approach i call "responsibility laundering").
- raminb30 12y ago
  I can see your point here, but I wouldn't generalize it to every other situation. if the point is that "being transparent and good" may not possibly lead to top I have to disagree. btw, that was an interesting article and data about visualizing patterns. the whole model may be fine-tuned and applied elsewhere as well
djb_hackernews 12y ago
Can you make those images bigger? They are barely readable and difficult to follow the article which it draws conclusions from.
bcherry 12y ago
Every time this data gets pulled up, it's interpreted as a sort of deliberate DoS attack. Is it not possible that these "recruiters" are simply trying to canvas every driver, so they cancel rides that get picked up by drivers they've already met?
- adminprof 12y ago
  When I use Lyft, it says there is a cancellation fee if I cancel after I make a request. So aren't those recruiters racking up thousands in fees to their credit cards?
  - baddox 12y ago
    I believe the fee is only charged for cancellations more than five minutes after the request.
- baddox 12y ago
  That's possible, but I would still call that a deliberate DoS attack.
cruise02 12y ago
How do you let someone cancel over 1500 rides from the same phone number? Pizza delivery places had this figured out decades ago.
leopoldo 12y ago
For me, the saddest part is that all this fight over an unethical practice by both companies is keeping true innovation from improving the services. I wish Lyft and Uber teams were as creatives for improving their services instead of damaging the other.

21 points by jvilledieu 12y ago

as somebody already mentioned, Rockefeller who is probably more important for building a modern economy even than Ford (Ford was important for building industrial economy which is going away while Rockefeller's foundation is still the foundation of the modern post-industrial economy), didn't achieve it by being a good, or even by being just minimally honest. Quite opposite actually. In this case i'd expect that, like in case of AirBNB's "contractors" spamming Craigslist, Uber would officially claim having no idea that their "contractors" have been engaged in such practices (an approach i call "responsibility laundering").

raminb30 12y ago
I can see your point here, but I wouldn't generalize it to every other situation. if the point is that "being transparent and good" may not possibly lead to top I have to disagree. btw, that was an interesting article and data about visualizing patterns. the whole model may be fine-tuned and applied elsewhere as well

djb_hackernews 12y ago

Can you make those images bigger? They are barely readable and difficult to follow the article which it draws conclusions from.

bcherry 12y ago

Every time this data gets pulled up, it's interpreted as a sort of deliberate DoS attack. Is it not possible that these "recruiters" are simply trying to canvas every driver, so they cancel rides that get picked up by drivers they've already met?

adminprof 12y ago
When I use Lyft, it says there is a cancellation fee if I cancel after I make a request. So aren't those recruiters racking up thousands in fees to their credit cards?
- baddox 12y ago
  I believe the fee is only charged for cancellations more than five minutes after the request.
baddox 12y ago
That's possible, but I would still call that a deliberate DoS attack.

cruise02 12y ago

How do you let someone cancel over 1500 rides from the same phone number? Pizza delivery places had this figured out decades ago.

leopoldo 12y ago

For me, the saddest part is that all this fight over an unethical practice by both companies is keeping true innovation from improving the services. I wish Lyft and Uber teams were as creatives for improving their services instead of damaging the other.