Travellers using Uber to get to and from South African airports have been warned about fraudulent drivers posing as Uber representatives.
Johan van Schalkwyk, a frequent traveller and commentator, recently told Cape Talk that these individuals were scamming unsuspecting people out of thousands of rands.
He highlighted that there are several online groups where locals and tourists have spoken about their experiences with these fake e-hailing drivers.
“They are offering the services like they were an Uber to unsuspecting people. They are scamming them,” he said.
“The thing you read often is someone saying ‘my trip should have been R420, but I got to the hotel and connected to the Wi-Fi to see I’ve been charged R4,200.”
However, he did not clarify how the scammers were able to extract this fee from their victims.
Given that the victims’ money was taken out of their bank accounts, it’s possible that they shared their card information with the drivers.
Van Schalkwyk said that these scammers are becoming brazen with their tactics, often using the branding of established e-hailing companies like Bolt and Uber, and operating in busy locations like airports.
He spoke about his experiences at Cape Town International Airport and how the airport can be improved, especially for travellers.
He suggested that airports could formalise unregistered e-hailing drivers by demarcating specific pickup zones and touting areas.
“If we can give them a place to stand and sell their services, and make it clear that this is an approved taxi pickup area, that just improves the situation,” Van Schalkwyk said.
“It gives those legit drivers a real place to make money and a real place to do business with the tourists that arrive. It eliminates these opportunists that hang around.”
Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) stated that passenger safety and security is a priority at all of its terminals.
It told our sister publication BusinessTech that it would continue to strengthen passenger awareness initiatives to help travellers identify and avoid unauthorised transport operators, including individuals falsely presenting themselves as legitimate e-hailing or taxi drivers.
ACSA highlighted measures it had taken to improve safety at Cape Town International, including signage, better wayfinding, digital messaging, social media and audio announcements, printed awareness materials, and the new Travel Safety passenger tunnel that leads people from International Arrivals to authorised transport facilities.
Majority of e-hailing drivers may be foreign nationals
National E-Hailing Federation of South Africa (NEFSA) spokesperson Stella Masagale said at the end of June that about 50% to 60% of e-hailing drivers were foreign nationals.
Bear in mind, this statistic is based on NEFSA’s internal data, but the federation has contacted Bolt, InDrive, and Uber to obtain official numbers from the country’s leading e-hailing companies.
“We are waiting to hear from Bolt, InDrive, and Uber. Uber has not really come forth with that data yet,” she stated.
Masagale made these comments on Cape Talk in the lead-up to the 30 June 2026 national shutdown, organised by anti-immigration group March and March.
She had encouraged the NEFSA’s members to avoid airports on the day of the protests, and encouraged drivers to carry their documents.
The federation noted that InDrive, in particular, was experiencing an influx of foreign drivers.
“We are noticing fraudulent documentation within the InDrive app, so we’re trying to engage with their policy head to see the root cause,” she said.
“As for Uber, it’s a matter of communication problems where they’re not really coming to the table and giving us the information that we need to know.”
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