Woman shares terrifying encounter with fake taxi driver at Bengaluru airport

A woman recounted a frightening experience with a fake taxi driver at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru.

In a post on X, Nikita Malik described the incident, emphasizing the dangers posed by unauthorized drivers pretending to be part of official ride-hailing services like Ola.

It all started at 10:30 p.m. when she reserved an Ola taxi from the scheduled pickup location at the airport. Soon after, a driver who hadn't been paired with her through the app came up and said he could take her to her destination.

“Almost got trafficked/raped/looted/assaulted by a random cab driver who was let in by Bengaluru Airport in the Ola pickup station and impersonated to be one at terminal 1 of the airport at 10:30 pm had I not called 112, I’d not be here typing this,” she said in the post.

Additionally, Nikita posted pictures of her scribbled grievance against the driver. The incident's specifics were disclosed in the letter.

She got inside the taxi despite her initial reluctance, but she soon realized something was wrong when the driver asked her to enter her route directly into his personal Maps app instead of requesting the required OTP, claiming that his official app was malfunctioning.

The situation became more dire as the ride went on. She refused to pay the driver's demands for an additional charge. Then, in order to pay the agreed-upon fare, he proposed moving her to another car.

Nikita insisted on going back to the airport because she felt threatened, but the driver disregarded her and stopped at an unplanned gas station, asking ₹500 for fuel.

Maintaining her composure, she called the emergency helpline 112 in confidence and informed a family member of her location.

The police arrested the fraudster, Basavaraj, at the airport pickup stand within 20 minutes.