Fake GPS

[nehru]

Hello Guys,

Im developing a WebApp/Mobile to capture Remote Employees GPS Location.

Is there a way to detect a mobile phone user using fake GPS and stop it from taking LATLON and TIMESTAMP or any?

because the location can be cheated using it.

please help

[WayneH]

Yup my research on this one led me to realize it was a brutal area to safeguard. What started with people cheating at Pokémon has spawned into time cheats.
To be fair, some have a rational fear of having their location tracked.

I realized that it’s too big of a hurdle to climb over to install something on their phone to detect it and we aren’t sophisticated enough to take the code to the level of cross referencing against WiFi, etc.

I think a reasonable approach is to battle it post processing. Such as taking a series of data when they clock in or out or change tasks. Then write something that looks at the punches in a batch to look for anomalies. I think the spoofing has an unnatural jump to it and I assume I could write something to flag a measurable deviation for further analysis. The assumption being I would install several of the apps and take data to find something measurable. This path wouldn’t stop it that day, but you’d catch it on that payroll cycle and root out the thief.

Wayne

[peteconway]

using fake GPS and stop it from taking LATLON and TIMESTAMP

, your application, in AA should be able to accommodate it, if done correctly.

[CharlesParker]

My opinion is that the whole location tracking has gone too far when an employee feels the need to spoof. The bottom line is: Is the required work done? Yes - who cares, NO - they gone anyways...regardless I know you have a job to do as well. I think the only way to know would be to be able to scan the file system for known apps. You can also just show a splash screen during the installation of your app that says these types of location spoofing apps are tracked and easily detected - anyone caught using them will be terminated. While this might be 100% untrue, it will create a serious pause for most people. You could also say in the splash screen that data will be collected until the violator reaches a felony level offense then they will be terminated and charged, lol. If you make it too laughable, they will ignore it so you might want to just have a warning...

[madtowng]

typically, an employee doing their job as expected has no reason to spoof their location. It’s only the ones doing things they shouldn’t be doing (spending time at a bar, buying or selling drugs) for example.

[Pat Bremkamp]

You could supply them with a company provided GPS device or phone that can't be reprogrammed, then compare the phone GPS to the provided device, like check in every hour, or just check the location at the same time you check the phone. You would just issue it to them with a form that says they agree to it. For example, truck drivers have a tracker in their truck that that detects location.

[kkfin]

In EU this is so clear "The EU's laws around privacy and data protection restrict employers from placing tracking devices in their employees' private vehicles without their consent. This is the case even if the company owns the vehicle." and to be clear GDPR prevents employers from using scanning software that can access employees’ personal information available on their devices.

Free to move free to be.

[madtowng]

Stupid laws like that prevent businesses from monitoring fraud, or even in minor cases, from helping a lost driver.
I would expect continued employment can be based on consent.

[Ted Giles]

Well, the delivery guys here in the UK take photos of the door and the item.
You get proof of delivery in ab9ut 20 seconds.
I agree with mot of the above.
Give the employee a phone and tell them it is traceable and feeds back info regarding location.
Iffy employees we don't need.
Who has "Where's my phone" activated on their own stuff?

[nehru]

Thank you, guys, for your advise.

I haven't tested it on iOS yet, but the fake GPS only functions on Android phones with developers mode enabled.

I believe that installing preventions or detections in developers mode (such as flutter_jailbreak_detection) or another app is really essential. Additionally, I believe that the phony GPS signals will be prevented and that I will be able to obtain the GPS location of my remote workers that operate outside. In addition, the business ought to provide remote workers with a gadget.

I appreciate you everyone.

[peteconway]

May be you asked the wrong question, maybe you should just describe the actual use case in detail and see what happens. Like where outside, like what service cell provider as cross reference etc.

[nehru]

May be you asked the wrong question, maybe you should just describe the actual use case in detail and see what happens. Like where outside, like what service cell provider as cross reference etc.

ok thank you for the advice.

[peteconway]

Welcome.