Federal prosecutors in New York charged two men with orchestrating a long-running scheme to pocket phony “surge charge” fees and defraudThe FBI arrested Eliahou Paldiel, 52, of Queens, and Carlos Arturo Suarez Palacios, 54, of Brick Township, NJ. Both appeared in Brooklyn Federal Court on Aug. 28 for arraignment on charges of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies that could land each of them in jail for 40 years.
Separately, an app called “Fake GPS” allowed the drivers to “spoof” their location, allowing them to accept rides experiencing surge pricing ahead of closer drivers. The app also enabled drivers to pretend they were in an airport ride-hail queue before they had actually arrived and skip the virtual line.
“As alleged, the defendants sought to enrich themselves by corrupting the rideshare market at the expense of unsuspecting passengers and hardworking drivers who play by the rules,” said Breon Peace, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “The defendants learned an important lesson in these charges: there is no such thing as a free ride.”