Visitors charged R25,000 for a single trip from a top South African airport

Scammers posing as Uber drivers are defrauding travellers and tourists landing at Cape Town International Airport (CTIA) by charging as much as R25,000 for a single trip.

This was revealed to our sister publication, MyBroadband, by an Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) contractor.

The contractor works at the airport at least two weeks a month and part-time for a recognised e-hailing company, and often hears from the tourists he drives about the scams they are facing.

He told the publication that tourists would rather never return to South Africa because of the negative experiences of being ripped off.

According to the contractor, an illegal syndicate of former and current meter taxi drivers started running these scams after suffering losses since Uber launched in South Africa.

These drivers began exploiting tourists exiting the busy airport by disguising themselves with reflective vests and fake cards that resemble official Uber drivers, soliciting trips at exits.

The contractor explained that tourists exiting the airport will see someone wearing a reflector and badge and automatically think the scammers are Uber drivers.

“When you see anyone wearing a reflector vest at the airport, you will think they seem official,” he said.

To help sell their scam, fake Uber drivers position themselves and behave in ways that catch travellers’ attention, lie about official e-hailing pickup spots, and convince travellers to cancel app-booked trips.

According to the contractor, fake Uber drivers will safely drop off travellers at their destination, but then inflate the amount they charge.

“The trick is when you are not careful, instead of typing R250 into the card machine, they will put R25,000,” he explained.

Following a recent incident, a 70-year-old tourist from the United Kingdom told the contractor that she had been charged £800 (R17,690) for a fake e-hailing trip from the airport.

Tourists leave without getting their money back

The fake Uber scam victim told the contractor that she immediately confronted the fake driver after the enormous amount was debited from her account.

She told him the driver tried to conceal his actions by claiming his finger slipped and he made a mistake, and promised to call his manager to reverse the payment.

Scammers also exploit the fact that travellers do not stay in South Africa for very long to avoid long-term consequences.

This particular tourist got a case number from the South African Police Service (SAPS) before she left the country, but she did not get back her money.

According to the contractor, her bank is unlikely to refund the payment considering she voluntarily paid with her card.

“The passengers are coming from a long flight and are very tired. They are just going to tap. They don’t even see the trick,” he said.

Another passenger told the contractor that a fake Uber driver became aggressive when confronted for charging R10,000 instead of R200 for a trip from the airport.

“But he’s a tourist. Having a local who is angry and starts getting a bit aggressive. What are you going to do? You end up paying them money,” he said.

ACSA has placed signs warning travellers to beware of fake e-hailing drivers at airport entrances, but scammers have since removed many of the warning signs.

These signs were first put up after a TikTok video was published earlier this year that exposed fake Uber scams at Cape Town International Airport.

The signs encourage tourists not to accept transport offers from individuals who approach them, and instead to only accept pickups at designated desks and to use e-hailing apps to book trips.