Originally Posted by jib71 (Post 12973411)

It sounds like you were feeling physically intimidated by the time they had your luggage. And it seems that the airport security staff were nowhere to be seen. (Who knows - Perhaps they were paid to turn a blind eye to these scammers).

Originally Posted by LoganFlyer (Post 12975618)

I started to feel intimidated when the guy ripped the prepaid voucher from my hand (I didn't offer it to him, he just took it). I've been asked plenty of times if I needed a taxi at airports around the world, and have always said no, knowing that the stand was nearby. But in this case, once the guy grabbed my voucher, I had no clue what I could do--could I have gone to the stand and explained what happened? I had not yet reached the point where I could even see the stand. Would the guard have let me back into the airport to get another one? If I had known that, I gladly would have paid another Rs. 200; not knowing my options once the voucher was gone was the key reason I felt lost. And I was very disappointed when I couldn't see any security guards in the area.

Originally Posted by ijkh (Post 12978068)

All inclusive tour to India including transfers?

Originally Posted by travelmad478 (Post 12972034)

Wow, that stinks. In my 12 years of traveling in India, I've never had this sort of thing happen, but that may be because I am a naturally suspicious person and tend to reflexively refuse anyone in an airport that comes up to me asking if I want a taxi.

Originally Posted by snod08 (Post 12972150)

Sorry you had this trouble. I always take pride in telling people that India is pretty safe to travel for foreigners....and then I hear these scams. Such a shame.

Originally Posted by Mr. Bean (Post 13084806)

Knowing the language is a big help, as are grains of salt. The first isn't always possible, but you should be very skeptical of solicitations of any sort (i.e., not just for taxis).

Originally Posted by Goofy Foot (Post 12952690)

Most taxis will have a taxi license with the driver's picture posted for passengers to examine.

After following the above guidelines, I always pull out my camera and snap a shot of the license and the driver. They HATE this :p , but are very well behaved after I have the shot.

Originally Posted by Athena53 (Post 13284580)

Thanks for the stories! It makes me realize how lucky I was on my first day of my first trip in 2004. It was a Sunday and I got a taxi outside my hotel and asked to go to the Red Fort. He got me to a certain point and then said that he was turning me over to a bicycle rickshaw driver, as cars weren't allowed that close to the Fort. He said he'd be waiting. Since I hadn't paid him anything I decided to trust him. The bicycle rickshaw ride was pretty wild, but as promised, he pedaled around the perimeter and waited while I took a liesurely walk through the place. He picked me up, I paid him the top of the range of what the taxi driver suggested, and dropped me off near the taxi driver, who promptly took me into a souvenir shop. Oh, well. Here's a picture with the view from the bicycle rickshaw.



My colleagues were incredulous when I got into the office the next day and told them of my adventure. So was my mother when I told her later. Since then I've gone with drivers my company provides.

Originally Posted by LoganFlyer (Post 12971785)

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?

Originally Posted by hserus (Post 14495472)

http://www.meterjam.com - people fed up with autorickshaws and taxis and are like "we won't ride in an auto or cab for a whole day"

Originally Posted by hserus (Post 14495472)

http://www.meterjam.com - people fed up with autorickshaws and taxis and are like "we won't ride in an auto or cab for a whole day"