HCMC taxi overcharges foreigners by 40 times
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Three Malaysians have fallen victim to a Mai Linh taxi scam in Ho Chi Minh City, paying VND6 million (US$300) for a ride that should have been VND150,000 (US$7.50).
One of the customers, Nasiniya Mohd Taib, said she and two friends took a taxi with a Mai Linh Taxi Group logo and the phone number 0839620620 on the side of the car from Ben Thanh Market to Tan Son Nhat Airport on the morning of May 10.
Upon arriving at the airport, the taxi driver charged them VND4 million (US$200) and 300 Malaysian ringgit (US$100), overcharging them by VND5.8 million ($US285).
Nguyen Tuan Sinh, head of Mai Linh Taxi Group’s labor union, said he went to Ben Thanh Market after the incident was reported to him and found the car was a scam taxi operating under Mai Linh’s name.
When Sinh and his officers found the car, which has license plate number 52V-0160, they tried to take photos but the driver attacked them.
Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, head of Mai Linh Taxi Group’s subsidiary Communist Party Committee, said taxi scams are not new and there have been numerous cases where drivers use the Mai Linh name to trick customers.
A representative for Mai Linh said scam taxi’s using Mai Linh’s name usually frequent Ben Thanh Market, Bach Dang Port and the Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Mai Linh said they have asked the authorities for a solution, but the scam taxis still exist.
The company advised its customers to pay close attention to the driver’s uniform, the logo and the phone number on the cab in order to avoid the ploy.
Recently, there have been an increasing number of scam taxis in HCMC reported by foreign customers.
