this post was submitted on 21 May 2026
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Don’t you love when you play devil’s advocate and everyone assumes you support something? It’s called having a bit of perspective, people. Yes, it was a shitty thing to do. People generally don’t do shitty things without some kind of reason, usually a ‘selfish’ one.
The simplest explanation is that dude needed more money, couldn’t otherwise make it, so he tried to game the system. He failed, likely because he didn’t consider where that money was coming from. Had the company he’s driving for paid a decent wage in the first place, dude would likely not have been incentivized to game the system.
EDIT: I want to be really clear: I do not support what the dude did. At all. His reasoning for doing so may be valid, but his actions were not.
There are a lot of people in the world not being paid a livable wage. Most of them aren't going out of their way to defraud people for the purposes of monetary gain.
So the question becomes would making a livable wage make him less likely to do this? Is it the desperation that makes him commit fraud?
Was it not making a livable wage that made those idiots in CA fake bear attacks to get insurance payouts?
Was it not making a livable wage that makes porch pirates steal packages?
The problem is this is conjecture with no actual substance of fact behind it. Nothing in the article makes reference to him needing the money.
So you took your view that Lyft and Uber Drivers don't make a living wage and put it together with the headline and decided in your head that the most probable motive was he was strapped for cash because he doesn't make enough.
I want to remind you all of something. When you become a Lyft or Uber driver there are requirements including that a vehicle can't be older than a certain model year, and has to have no cosmetic damage. I don't own a vehicle that fits the requirements. Most people don't. To maintain a vehicle for 15 years or less with zero cosmetic damage plus meet the other requirements for driving for Uber, you'd have to have money to maintain your vehicle.
It has to have 4 doors. It has to seat 4 riders. It has to have a clean title that doesn't include rebuilt/salvage/reconstructed titles.
It's likely that based on the cleanliness requirements alone you have to either detail it yourself or have it detailed.
Some of these drivers provide snacks and water and stuff.
So while I will not dispute that these ride share companies don't pay what they should, I'm also going to point out that being poor doesn't make you a criminal. This person jumped through a lot of hoops (some of them probably fairly costly) in order to drive for this company. And they chose to try to defraud some teenagers and their family.
I'm going to blow your little mind here. Have you heard of loans? Maybe he took out loans to try to get himself into a better position?
You ever tried to take out a loan with no credit or collateral? You ever tried to get one with bad credit?
Did you think about this at all before you made your snarky response?
Do you understand how predatory loan companies operate? Their prime demographic is desperate people. Many will give out loans to people with bad credit, just with much higher interest etc.
This isn't a case of "gaming the system" though. "Gaming the system" implies working within the boundaries of it, but in unforeseen (but legal, or at worst slightly questionable) ways, to min/max your output. This dude just committed plain fraud.