​Are some Go-Jek drivers scamming the company by making fake orders?

Photo: Go-Jek

It’s hard to believe Go-Jek only really exploded in popularity at the beginning of this year after the motorcycle taxi service released its smartphone application. It seems like there are Go-Jeks everywhere you go in Jakarta and they have become an indispensable part of many people’s daily commute.

That is in large part due to the aggressive promotion the company has maintained for several months now, in which passengers pay a mere Rp 10,000 per ride (as long as it is under 25km), with the company paying drivers the rest of their fares directly. Go-Jek has maintained its promotion to compete with rival GrabBike (which has a Rp 5,000 promo) but it is surely costing the company a fortune.

And now it seems there might be some unscrupulous Go-Jek drivers out there who are taking advantage of the promo to make a quick profit while hurting their employer.

A Go-Jek driver who only identified himself as A, talked to Warta Kota about the scam. First, he noted that the huge number of Go-Jek drivers now working in Jakarta (the company went on an aggressive recruitment drive in August, adding 16,000 drivers to their armada) has made it more difficult for many Go-Jeks to get orders and increasing competition between them. 

According to A, most drivers are now making around Rp 3.5 to Rp 4 million per month. He said drivers who are still making over Rp 10 million (as many drivers said they could in the early days of Go-Jek) are doing so by scamming the system with fake orders.

Basically, a driver would buy a second phone to create a fake Go-Jek account. Then they would place orders for long trips and immediately take them. In Go-Jek’s system, they still have to complete the order by driving to the destination, but then they can simply pay the Rp 10k (which they would get back a part of) while keeping the rest of the fare.

In this way, a Go-Jek driver could spend all day driving himself around on fake orders and make a killing. A estimated that a cheating driver could make as much as Rp 4 million per week this way, which is more than honest Go-Jeks (such as himself) could hope to make in a month.

“I wouldn’t do it, because I’m an honest person. Besides later they might face criminal charges,” A said.  

Given how quickly and aggressively Go-Jek has expanded, its ability to juggle its human resource management issues with its user growth needs may soon come to a head. Take advantage of those Rp 10k trips while you can.