It happened to me in Tel Aviv this past summer. He refused after I was seated in the cab. I took a pic of the cabbie's license. He snatched my phone. I started yelling "thief/ganav" at the top of my lungs. Police arrived within seconds. The driver started to run, leaving me and his car, which was a newish Mercedes. Another police car arrived, called him an idiot (same in both languages) and he stopped and came back. The officers hailed me another cab while writing him a ticket. And they gave me my phone back.

That's why I prefer to open the rear passenger side door and ask if the driver will go to my destination, if they decline in a rude way I can simply walk away with their door open and out of reach.

I've done it a handful of times for only the exceptionally annoying twits who incorrectly deem me a mark.

/shrug