Request Lyft/Uber advice for an old man to help others in the future.

Long story:
A kid needed a ride this weekend (got drunk) so the kid was out of
commission so to speak. I was called to help but I'm four hours away.

I tried setting up uber/lyft on my phone (which doesn't have a Google
Account) with my gps location spoofed by "Lexa" to where he said he was and
I tried to set each app up to spoof his phone number, but no methods I tried
to "impersonate" him worked with the verification code. In the end, someone
else came to his rescue before I was done trying to get my phone to look
like his phone to the uber/lyft apps. And that's ok.

With that event over, a lesson learned is to find a gps spoofing app that
can take in coordinates (apparently Lexa can only use a fuzzy Google Map
"place pin" location accuracy, which was more work than it needed to be).
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexa.fakegps>

I'll look for that spoofing app that accepts coordinates (instead of just a
pindrop on a fuzzy Google Map) but if you know of one offhand, please
advise. Even better would be a voluntary "tracking app" (if the kid would be
willing to set it up beforehand, of course).

Another lesson, of course, is an app that even a drunk person can hit a
button on to send a pre-defined list of recipients a location with map.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.perm.trubnikov.gps2sms>
Along with, perhaps, a pre-defined help keyword (e.g., "drunk" or "SOS").

If you know of a better free ad-free app for emergency map & location text
that doesn't need the Internet (it uses just plain old SMS), also advise.

But what I need the most advice on is which would you use, Uber or Lyft,
overall, in your experience, given you would be using it to set up a ride
for someone else.

I've personally only used airport vans and taxi's and even then, since I've
retired, not even that.

Short story:
What's your advice if you want to remotely set up an uber or lyft (which is
better, more reliable, cheaper, etc.) for someone else who is hours away
from you?

In article <t1apvr$git$1@gioia.aioe.org>, Andy Burnelli wrote...
>
> Request Lyft/Uber advice for an old man to help others in the future.
>
> Long story:
> A kid needed a ride this weekend (got drunk) so the kid was out of
> commission so to speak. I was called to help but I'm four hours away.
>
> I tried setting up uber/lyft on my phone (which doesn't have a Google
> Account) with my gps location spoofed by "Lexa" to where he said he was and
> I tried to set each app up to spoof his phone number, but no methods I tried
> to "impersonate" him worked with the verification code. In the end, someone
> else came to his rescue before I was done trying to get my phone to look
> like his phone to the uber/lyft apps. And that's ok.
>
> With that event over, a lesson learned is to find a gps spoofing app that
> can take in coordinates (apparently Lexa can only use a fuzzy Google Map
> "place pin" location accuracy, which was more work than it needed to be).
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexa.fakegps>
>
> I'll look for that spoofing app that accepts coordinates (instead of just a
> pindrop on a fuzzy Google Map) but if you know of one offhand, please
> advise. Even better would be a voluntary "tracking app" (if the kid would be
> willing to set it up beforehand, of course).
>
> Another lesson, of course, is an app that even a drunk person can hit a
> button on to send a pre-defined list of recipients a location with map.
> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.perm.trubnikov.gps2sms>
> Along with, perhaps, a pre-defined help keyword (e.g., "drunk" or "SOS").
>
> If you know of a better free ad-free app for emergency map & location text
> that doesn't need the Internet (it uses just plain old SMS), also advise.
>
> But what I need the most advice on is which would you use, Uber or Lyft,
> overall, in your experience, given you would be using it to set up a ride
> for someone else.
>
> I've personally only used airport vans and taxi's and even then, since I've
> retired, not even that.
>
> Short story:
> What's your advice if you want to remotely set up an uber or lyft (which is
> better, more reliable, cheaper, etc.) for someone else who is hours away
> from you?

Can't help setting up a ride-sharing app with a spoofed location, but if you
want to identify the location of the vulnerable person you could use:
*) Google location sharing (within Maps)
*) WhatsApp location sharing: https://faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/how-to-
use-live-location/?lang=en
*) What3Words app: https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app
*) OS Locate app: https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/apps/os-locate/

If he/she can't use an app, then it's not Uber you want, but 999.

--

Phil, London

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> What's your advice if you want to remotely set up an uber or lyft (which is
> better, more reliable, cheaper, etc.) for someone else who is hours away from
> you?

Are there no "conventional" taxis available?

Andy Burns wrote:

>> What's your advice if you want to remotely set up an uber or lyft (which is
>> better, more reliable, cheaper, etc.) for someone else who is hours away from
>> you?
>
> Are there no "conventional" taxis available?

It's a valid question since I didn't mention the kid had no money or credit
cards on him (he's not even of legal age yet - which is a different issue).

The problem was paying for it but I guess we could call a taxi and pay ahead
of time. We didn't think of that since the Uber/Lyft method was presumed to
be cheaper (where we presumed Lyft was cheaper than Uber).

In the end, Lyft worked but the question is how to improve on the process.
Particularly how to spoof GPS coordinates by entering them into the phone.
And how to spoof the phone number (we explored spoofcard and a few others).

I was just hoping someone had more experience in the spoofing than I do.
And I was hoping someone had more experience with Lyft/Uber than I do.

Philip Herlihy <PhillipHerlihy@SlashDevNull.invalid> wrote:
> In article <t1apvr$git$1@gioia.aioe.org>, Andy Burnelli wrote...
>>
>> Request Lyft/Uber advice for an old man to help others in the future.
>>
>> Long story:
>> A kid needed a ride this weekend (got drunk) so the kid was out of
>> commission so to speak. I was called to help but I'm four hours away.
>>
>> I tried setting up uber/lyft on my phone (which doesn't have a Google
>> Account) with my gps location spoofed by "Lexa" to where he said he was and
>> I tried to set each app up to spoof his phone number, but no methods I tried
>> to "impersonate" him worked with the verification code. In the end, someone
>> else came to his rescue before I was done trying to get my phone to look
>> like his phone to the uber/lyft apps. And that's ok.
>>
>> With that event over, a lesson learned is to find a gps spoofing app that
>> can take in coordinates (apparently Lexa can only use a fuzzy Google Map
>> "place pin" location accuracy, which was more work than it needed to be).
>> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexa.fakegps>
>>
>> I'll look for that spoofing app that accepts coordinates (instead of just a
>> pindrop on a fuzzy Google Map) but if you know of one offhand, please
>> advise. Even better would be a voluntary "tracking app" (if the kid would be
>> willing to set it up beforehand, of course).
>>
>> Another lesson, of course, is an app that even a drunk person can hit a
>> button on to send a pre-defined list of recipients a location with map.
>> <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.perm.trubnikov.gps2sms>
>> Along with, perhaps, a pre-defined help keyword (e.g., "drunk" or "SOS").
>>
>> If you know of a better free ad-free app for emergency map & location text
>> that doesn't need the Internet (it uses just plain old SMS), also advise.
>>
>> But what I need the most advice on is which would you use, Uber or Lyft,
>> overall, in your experience, given you would be using it to set up a ride
>> for someone else.
>>
>> I've personally only used airport vans and taxi's and even then, since I've
>> retired, not even that.
>>
>> Short story:
>> What's your advice if you want to remotely set up an uber or lyft (which is
>> better, more reliable, cheaper, etc.) for someone else who is hours away
>> from you?
>
> Can't help setting up a ride-sharing app with a spoofed location, but if you
> want to identify the location of the vulnerable person you could use:
> *) Google location sharing (within Maps)
> *) WhatsApp location sharing: https://faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/how-to-
> use-live-location/?lang=en
> *) What3Words app: https://what3words.com/products/what3words-app
> *) OS Locate app: https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/apps/os-locate/
>
> If he/she can't use an app, then it's not Uber you want, but 999.

Yup.

In many ways I'm glad the attempts by Arlen failed because if it was
possible it could be really dangerous.

Chris wrote:

> if it was possible it could be really dangerous.

Chris,

Which components of the question are you intimating are impossible?
a. Spoofing the GPS to the kid's known location
b. Setting up the Lyft account on my phone using a 2nd line number
c. Setting up a pickup for someone else
d. Paying for that ride for someone else