Priscila, Queen of the Rideshare Mafia

Have to think this would make an incredible movie. Smart, wily and charismatic Brazilian girl sneaks into America on a tourist visa. She makes an illegal fortune in New York City, then gets arrested and becomes queen of her prison. The last we see her she is fighting to stay in America knowing that only here can she do it all over again.

I can’t believe WIRED is more or less romanticizing this story. This woman:

1. Came here illegally.

2. Committed mass, mechanized identity theft.

3. Put many rideshare users in danger.

4. Had a sham marriage

… and then was surprised that anyone cared!

It sure feels like our systems are _not_ hardened enough to deal with people from cultures like this. Big https://xkcd.com/1499/ energy.

>A sham marriage would cost some $28,000—$18,000 to the agency and $10,000 to the husband, paid out in $350 monthly chunks to keep him cooperative throughout the process.

So even criminal agencies seem to have MBA's working on "extracting value" for them now. The matchmaker gets 50%-70% of the money for existing. The person taking the legal risk only gets monthly payments. Sounds like every VC firms dream outcome.