Police detain unlicensed cab driver accused of stealing customers' transport cards
An illegal taxi driver has been detained for allegedly defrauding passengers by taking their transportation cards, Shanghai police said on Monday.
Illegal taxis are cars operating as cabs without license by unqualified drivers.
The suspect, a man surnamed Wang, allegedly took cards when passengers were paying the fare and switching them without being noticed.
A university student surnamed Zhang told police on December 19 that she was duped this way.
Zhang said she took a taxi outside Jinhai Road Metro station in the Pudong New Area that afternoon and found out after getting off that the card returned to her was the wrong one.
Her card had a sticker on it, while the card she took from the driver didn’t. Her card had about 500 yuan in it, but the card she got had no money.
She added that there was a jacket on the front seat and the driver didn’t allow her to sit there.
Police identified the suspect’s car from surveillance cameras and tracked him down in the next few days.
Wang was caught by the police at the end of December and has allegedly confessed that he has defrauded over 10 people in the past two to three months and spent money in their cards on gas filling.
Police said they discovered about 10 transportation cards with no money from him.