A jumbo taxi driver was booked without detention by the Incheon tourist police Tuesday for allegedly scamming a foreign visitor out of nearly 1.3 million won ($1,200) in cab 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 Oct. 31 last year. His destination was a hotel in Nonhyeon-dong, southern Seoul.
(Twitter)
For a journey from Incheon Airport to Nonhyeong-dong, customers would normally pay 100,000 won, based on taxi fare rates in Seoul. The victim, however, reported that his international credit card had been charged 1.37 million won, around 10 times the normal fare.
Police found that the suspect had taken into consideration that it usually takes time to check credit card bills and consequently committed the alleged theft.
The suspect reportedly gave the customer a fake receipt that indicated the bill came to 137,000 won. Upon returning home to Australia, the victim was surprised to discover that the receipt was dated to the year 2013.
With the Korea Tourism Organization’s help, police 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.
By Catherine Chung (
cec82@heraldcorp.com)
