LoganFlyer

I just got taken by a ride by a taxi scam and need to let it out. The taxi from the hotel to BOM cost Rs. 200, excluding tip. That was arranged through the hotel and was just fine. So after a couple of days in Delhi, I get back to BOM at 10:30 PM and go to the prepaid taxi counter, where I pay Rs. 200, they give me a voucher and I head outside. Mistake #1--I held that voucher in my hand as I start to look for the prepaid stand. Next thing I know, two guys literally come running up to me and literally grab the voucher out of my hand and tell me to follow them to a taxi. I ask them if it's a prepaid taxi, and they say yes. Now at this point I was sniffing something was wrong but didn't know what to do about it, so I start frantically looking for a security guard, and seeing none, follow them (mistake #2.) They bring me inside a cab with barely working lights and hand me a laminated sheet, claiming that the Rs. 200 I paid inside the airport was merely an "airport service charge" and that the real fare was Rs. 1600. They even had a laminated sheet that said so. I started to argue, but my stuff was in the trunk and they had me. Mistake #3--I paid the Rs. 1600 instead of getting out while I was still on airport property. At that point, they first tell me the bills I gave were slightly torn and not acceptable, so I fish for others--in reality, they wanted me to pay in US $, but I was having none of that. And of course the dim light made it impossible for me to see what I--or they--were doing, so it's entirely possible I accidentally paid Rs. 2100 (or probably a lot more; for example, at one point, I think I paid Rs. 1600 as 3 Rs. 500 bills and 1 Rs. 100 bill, but they claimed I only paid Rs. 400--I think they switched the 3 Rs. 500 bills to 3 Rs. 100 bills but I couldn't see the switch since it was dark inside the cab). They then transfer me to taxi #2 with different drivers (probably so they could go back to the airport to get the next guy); that goes for about a kilometer, to a taxi stand where I get into taxi #3. Now I think the driver of taxi #3 had no clue about what was going on--he was just getting a passenger who already paid and was happy about it. I was definitely nervous at this point, but he did take me straight to the hotel, and I did tip him since I didn't believe he knew what was happening. When I got to the hotel, I stopped at the front desk, and they confirmed the whole thing was a scam.

So my question is...what should I have done differently? In particular, once the guy ripped the voucher from my hand, what were my options? I knew something was wrong, but had no idea what I could do without the voucher. Would they have let me back inside to get another one? Or could I have gone to the security stand and explained what happened?