To be fair, these issues are not unique to Thailand. The last time I took a taxi from ATL to my house, the driver "forgot" to turn on the meter, despite my asking when I got in the car. Long story short, he didn't have a license displayed, once the meter was on - about 2 mi from the airport - he started driving way out of the way. Anyone familiar with ATL - I live in East Atlanta, which is the Connector to I-20E. He exited the Connector and started driving in downtown: specifically we wound up passing the Grady and were almost at Peachtree. I wound up calling 911, the operator insisted I remain on the phone with her, when we finally pulled up to my house, a police officer was waiting. At first, she took the side of the driver, but within a minute, she told me to just go inside, not having to worry about paying. Another police officer showed up very quickly, the driver was put in the back of that car and his taxi was parked on the street outside my house for two days. The police never reached out to me, so I'm guessing there were warrants.

I now use Uber at ATL, which is 1/3 the price of a taxi. (>$50 vs ~$17)