Woman recalls ordeal after boarding fake Ola cab at Bengaluru airport: ‘Even in one of the safest cities…’

A Bengaluru resident faced a harrowing experience with Ola Cabs this week while trying to return home from the airport late at night. The woman was picked up by a cab from the designated pickup station around 10:30 pm and did not initially realise that something was amiss. The ‘fake’ driver was eventually arrested after she alerted the police during the ride.

The woman — a junior resident doctor who had just landed from Delhi — said she was approached by the cabbie while on a family call at the pickup site. She informed him that there must have been a mistake — she had booked an Ola mini cab while his car was a sedan — and was assured that he would drop her.

“He did not ask for my OTP after I sat in the car. I kept telling him my OTP but he didn't respond. He moved almost 700 metres ahead on the road without asking for my OTP or my end location. I asked him again: 'Where are you taking me?'. He told me to put my location in the Maps application on his phone. As I entered my location he told me that his Ola app is not working...” she wrote in an excerpt from her handwritten complaint to the police.

According to the details shared by Dr Nikita Malik on X, matters took a turn for the worse after the driver demanded extra fare (which she refused to pay) and offered to transfer her to another vehicle with the agreed-upon fare.

He also ignored her calls for them to return to the airport and eventually made an unscheduled stop at a petrol station, demanding ₹500 for fuel. The driver was eventually arrested after she dialed 112 and reached out to the police helpline.

“I was smart enough to not get out of the car at the fuel station to know cab number. I opened the door, took picture in wide angle frame and got to know his car number. When he realised I’ve raised an issue…he told he’ll drop me back and asked me not to complain. I pretended to be on call whole time,” she recalled in conversation with an X user.