The Australian tourist said that he was picked up by the driver at Incheon Airport on October 31 last year, and bound for a hotel in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul.
Incheon’s tourist police has booked a jumbo taxi driver for allegedly scamming an Australian tourist out of nearly 1.3 million won (US$1,200) in cab fare, nearly ten times the normal fare. The 61-year-old suspect faces charges of theft by fraud.
The Australian tourist said that he was picked up by the driver at Incheon Airport on October 31 last year, and bound for a hotel in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul.
Based on taxi fare rates in Seoul, customers typically pay 100,000 won for a journey from Incheon Airport to Nonhyeong-dong. The victim reported that his international credit card had been charged 1.37 million won, about 10 times the normal fare.
Police investigations revealed that the suspect had taken into consideration that it usually takes time to discover credit card bills and had consequently committed the alleged theft.
He reportedly issued the customer a ‘fake’ receipt for the 137,000 won cab fare, which the customer discovered later was dated to the year 2013.
Police had the help of Korea Tourism Organization and were able to track down the suspect through a list of registered drivers at the airport.
Police plan to investigate whether there are other victims.