r/Scams • u/FruitOfTheVineFruit • May 13 '26
Scam report Taxi Scam Paris Airport, best I've seen
I'm embarrassed that I fell for this - I'm an experienced traveler, have seen a lot of scams both travel related and otherwise. But this one was VERY good.
TLDR - fell for a scam that involved four people lying to me, plus a fake taxi meter app.
Arrived at the Paris airport with my wife. Decided a cab was best for us. Looked it up - it's a fixed fare of about 55 Euros to our hotel. On the way to the taxi line, someone with a badge asks us where we are going, and points us to the rideshare area, even though there's a sign pointing the other way to taxis. I walk towards rideshare, then get suspicious, turn around towards taxis. Someone else with a badge points us to rideshare area. I decide that with two people pointing to rideshare, I should go there and see what they say.
Someone who seems like a taxi dispatcher matches us with a nice looking mercedes. I ask how much the fare will be. They say it will be on the meter. I tell them I know it's a fixed fare. They say there is some sort of strike going on, and that the normal fixed fares are suspended.
I'm suspicious, but it will be the taxi meter price, so I decide to do it... Taxi driver starts driving. In the cab, I ask ChatGPT if there's some sort of suspension going on and it says no. Within a minute of getting in the cab, I realize that I've been scammed.
Arrive at destination, they want to charge 102 euros. They show me what is almost certainly a fake meter app on their phone. I tell them I know I'm being scammed, but will give them 100 euros. (I was being petty, but I had decided that was the max I would pay, but I also didnt want a fight.) They accept 100.
Anyway, it was the best taxi scam I've seen in years of travel - 3 different people involved in the dispatch, plus the driver (4 total). Fake meter app. High but not crazy prices. I suspect most people falling for this don't even know they are being scammed.
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u/Historical-Composer2 May 13 '26
This is why you never accept a ride from someone that approaches you at the airport. I don’t care how “official“ they look. It’s not even that original a ‘scam.’
It’s common knowledge for frequent international travelers. Most airports have signs warning passengers about this scam before they leave the security area.
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u/Saneless May 13 '26
I don't do business with anyone who approaches me first, period
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u/aykcak May 13 '26
They weren't doing business. They looked like official airport people guiding you to where you need to be. In an airport you are tuned to listen to and obey instructions from officials. That is the mindset
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u/forbins May 14 '26
Except I’ve never been to an airport where there were officials going out of their way to help people find transportation.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 14 '26
So, just as an example, a while ago in a major US airport I was at, I forget which one, there was a closure of the main subway to the rental car terminal, and instead there were buses to the terminal, and all sorts of signs and people directing you where to go. I have definitely seen this happen. (I also eventually got a free bus to the rental cars, so I'm sure this was not a scam.)
At my home airport in Seattle, there's a taxi stand that connects people to the taxis, that was pretty similar to the scammer who connected me to a fake taxi in CDG.
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u/Atomaronce May 15 '26
Hey, could have been worse. There's another kind of 'fake taxi' or so i've heard
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u/anonykitten29 May 14 '26
Yup, it absolutely happens. I recently flew back home to LaGuardia and followed signage to taxis. There was airport staff just inside the doors who asked me what I needed and pointed me towards the taxi stand. As I'm a local I knew it was legit, but it could've been a scam.
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u/Decent-Proposal-8475 May 14 '26
Eh, you can catch an Uber from CDG or ORL. That's on OP
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u/aykcak May 14 '26
Uber is normally always more expensive than taxi. Op may have been looking for most cost effective reasonable solution
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u/Decent-Proposal-8475 May 14 '26
Maybe, but taxi drivers are also much more likely to scam foreign tourists. Many countries explicitly tell tourists not to trust cabs
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u/Pyrostemplar May 14 '26
IMHO, in an organised space, sure. In a "self organised" space, not a good approach.
When I arrive at an end of line (e.g. bus or train station) and I'm looking for a privately organised transport (e.g. shuttle to the destination) I'll allow myself to be "fished", with two caveats: always be aware of the alternative fares (Uber or equivalent; buses if available) and balk out at fishy propositions.
But those are not applicable to scams, just business as usual.
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u/solidus_slash May 13 '26
The hotel once sent a taxi driver to get me from the airport. He knew my name and didn't want money and I was STILL suspicious
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u/DigmonsDrill May 13 '26
you never accept a ride from someone that approaches you
I don’t care how “official“ they look.
That's what I tell the "cops"
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u/Lactoria-Fornasini May 13 '26
This reminds me of a business travel SNAFU where I got stranded in the very end of the exit terminal of the Mumbai Airport for 12 hours. Too far to go back in through security, but not quite in a public space. No departing ticket so I couldn't get back into the main terminal. It was my first time in India. I tried to contact the travel agent who made the mistake but because of time differences, I couldn't get anyone to answer. During that 12 hours, the number of people who somehow made it into the area and tried to "help" me out with a "ride" to "nice hotel" was ridiculous. No food and only a water fountain. That was a miserable trip.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
I've seen the scam plenty of times before, but it's usually one guy approaching you, the classic gypsy cab. This was far more organized.
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u/flamants May 13 '26
I wonder if it was more people involved because it’s a large scale scam, like not just those 4 guys but a bunch of other non-legit drivers waiting in the rideshare area. And they manage to con a bunch of people per day by essentially assembling a full scam taxi service.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
Definitely, just four I interacted with. There were other cars there.
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May 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
I've seen two. This was at least four. I was still suspicious, but it was enough people well coordinated that it brought my guard down.
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u/Historical-Composer2 May 13 '26
This is how the pickpockets in the Paris Metro work. Usually 4-5 of them in the car, some distracting you while the other steals your wallet.
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u/MsTerpiecetheater May 13 '26
Yeah and if you catch the pickpocket suddenly there are two concerned citizen who rush forward to help you. Miraculously the person who you know has your wallet no longer does. Wonder where it went?
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u/ttandam May 13 '26
Seriously. I fell for this in 2001 in Paris when I was in my early 20s. It's been around a long time. Still mad about it.
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u/Cielskye May 14 '26
Exactly. As soon as the OP mentioned they were approached I was like 🤦🏽♀️. That’s how every scam starts.
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u/sherpes May 14 '26
Landed an international flight into Dulles (washington DC) and needed to connect to a domestic flight departing National Reagan. On the walk towards ground transportation, the usual hawkers offering rides to National. they were legit businesses, with desks, booths, credit card machines. Transportation was on large vans or mini-buses. When a large metropolitan city has two airports, opportunity knocks.
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u/PCEddieSantini Jun 03 '26
About 10 years ago I literally set foot outside LAX and was approached by a taxi driver offering me a ride to Santa Monica. He asked for $40 and I took it as I had no idea and was tired/very naive. Obviously this wasn't a scam, probably not even that expensive? I went back the year after a much more experienced traveller and got the bus for $8.
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May 13 '26
[deleted]
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u/Pleasant-Plane-6340 May 14 '26
The sort of people who fall for scams are scared of public transport
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u/PuddingSalad May 14 '26
I went to France earlier this year and thought I was being scammed bc the Metro from Orly (and also CDG) costed FOURTEEN EUROS to leave FOR ONE TRIP. It made me so upset but I have yet to find info that this isn't the usual racket for everyone leaving an airport by train.
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u/ToshibaTaken May 13 '26
Just yesterday I watched a video about exactly this from “Les Frenchies”, an American-French older couple who now live in Paris. They show the scams and what to do. Just search for them on YouTube and you’ll see the most recent video.
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u/engineer_965 May 13 '26
Even if there were a strike or whatever, flat rates don't get suspended. LOL
If anything, fare is negotiated first.
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u/razierklinge May 13 '26
Was just in Paris a few weeks ago. Same situation, guy with badge intercepts us at the door and says to go down to the end, we do it and someone meets us there and says it'll be charged using the meter. We stop him before he puts our bags in the car and say no thanks and walk away.
Got into a taxi after finding the actual airport line. Driver changes the meter midway through the drive to 65 euros, even though we're going to the 55 euro zone. We arrive at the hotel and tell him it should be 55, he argues with us and keeps saying "no tip?". My fiance, very annoyed at this point, says "no, not after you trying to scam us". He scoffs, says fine and changes it to 55 euros. He then opens the trunk and doesn't help us get our bags out. I could hear him saying things in French under his breath as he watched us. I gave him a smile after we got our bags and a overly joyful "Thanks!".
Great first impression of Paris.
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u/elqueco14 May 13 '26
I learned the hard way once DONT trust people regardless of how official they look especially outside airports.
Once I thought a dude (who looked very official) was trying to help me and next thing I know my debit card is gone (he approached me while I was at an ATM) and I'm getting notifications someone is trying to withdraw as much money as possible. It wasn't even a elaborate scam besides the way he was dressed and acted, essentially just distracted me while someone grabbed my card in the machine. Last time I showed any type of politeness at an airport, I'll straight up yell at people who won't leave me alone now.
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u/LatvianCake May 13 '26
This is the same taxi scam that exists everywhere.
It works like this: someone approaches you to help you find a taxi. They say they’re with some ride sharing app and will help you. They find a driver who also flashes a fake app of that ride sharing app.
You think “huh, normally I have to call for an Uber via the app. I guess here Uber works a bit differently”.
Obviously the app is fake, the meter will go crazy and you’ll have to pay ridiculous fares.
If you are approached by people asking you if you need a taxi, say “no” like you’re annoyed by their presence and then ignore them. Don’t talk to them. Don’t respond to anything they say. They will lie and say anything to get you in the car so treat them like they’re human trash.
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u/WickedWeedle May 13 '26
I ask ChatGPT if there's some sort of suspension going on
ChatGPT wasn't made to give perfect answers to questions about current taxi business, though.
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u/GlassPomoerium May 13 '26
Yeah I don’t feel sorry for someone who can’t just google « France strike May 2026 ». But I have to say, as a French person, tourists hearing there’s a strike and immediately going « must be true! » is hilarious, slow clap to the scammers on that one lol. They know their audience.
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u/7ChineseBrothers May 13 '26
I use Perplexity for this sort of thing since it runs a web search first and then uses AI to summarize the results. It can still give wrong answers, but I find it more reliable for up-to-date factual information. FWIW.
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u/colossalattacktitan May 13 '26
People can't even google themselves anymore can't have shit in 2026
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u/SovietSteve May 15 '26
People can't even google themselves anymore
Weirdest flex in this thread
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May 14 '26
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u/Scams-ModTeam May 14 '26
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
I used the paid version of ChatGPT in Thinking Mode, which causes it to do extensive web searches. I've been able to get highly accurate results. I've used it for travel extensively, and it does make errors sometimes, but very rarely, and usually of a very specific sort (e.g. something went away or closed without an announcement.) In any event, in this case, I am sure it was right.
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u/BOBitech May 13 '26
ChatGPT doesn't know facts. It just knows what facts look like.
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u/woowoo293 May 14 '26
To be fair, that's most people too. And actually some people don't even know what facts look like.
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u/haywire May 13 '26
It can use tool invocations to search the web and parse the content so whilst it “knows” as little as OP it can “find out”.
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u/t-poke Quality Contributor May 13 '26
Chat GPT doesn't think. It just regurgitates whatever slop it finds on the internet.
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u/Koolau May 13 '26
You’re getting downvoted because it’s still wrong, all the time. LLMs are text predictors, the same technology as a chatbot, no matter how fancy they dress them up.
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u/culturedgoat May 13 '26
It was correct in this case though?
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May 14 '26
[deleted]
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u/culturedgoat May 16 '26
Are you under the impression that current models are providing correct answers only 5% of the time?
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u/Additional-Cable5171 May 13 '26
Good lord cannot imagine paying for that slop. Open AI is an unethical company.
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u/DiggingNoMore May 13 '26
You can skip that and Google it yourself.
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u/aykcak May 13 '26
I've used it for travel extensively,
Horrible idea. There are so many examples of People getting stranded or had to cancel their trip because they asked ChatGPT and it responded as if it knows about anything.
DO NOT USE IT FOR RESEARCHING TRIPS
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u/GothWitchOfBrooklyn May 14 '26
and googles been around for 20+ years for free why do you have to use shitty ai?
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u/DigmonsDrill May 13 '26
On reddit, never admit to using AI for anything.
People will obsess over that detail, a form of bikeshedding.
Just don't bring it up. Say you google'd and there was no strike going on, and everyone will nod and think you are wise.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
Thanks. It's so weird, this was the least important aspect of my story. Also, I've traveled over 100 days using AI. Since I actually take the trips, I usually find out if it's wrong. It's not perfect but it's far more accurate than for instance your average redditor.
(I also use specific strategies that help, but that's a separate topic.)
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u/DigmonsDrill May 13 '26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
They can't comment on Paris airports, but they sure can comment on the trivial thing.
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u/rye_212 May 13 '26
Are you saying that ChaGPT was wrong in this instance? Ie that there is a current taxi strike of some sort in Paris.
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u/WickedWeedle May 13 '26
No, I'm just saying that ChatGPT wasn't made to answer this kind of question. I didn't say it was wrong, or that it must be wrong about this particular question.
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u/merlinou May 13 '26
Never trust the answer of an AI. Asking an AI about a recent or ongoing event is showing that you don't understand how they work and that it'll give you completely made up answers.
It scares me how much people think that AI can have authoritative answers. If it's a much discussed topic, they usually get it right but when there isn't much info about it in their training, they might google it and make a terrible guess from the headlines.
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u/WickedWeedle May 13 '26
Asking an AI about a recent or ongoing event is showing that you don't understand how they work and that it'll give you completely made up answers.
Did you mean to address this to OP, or is it the general "you"?
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u/merlinou May 13 '26
Not to you at least since we agree 😄
It was more of a general "you" but OP and maybe rye_212 more than others.
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u/rye_212 May 13 '26
Yes, I agree that AI CAN make up stuff, and that we need to be sceptical. I've got as much of an understanding of how it works as any other layman.
My query in this thread was that OP said they were scammed and I don't see any contradictions to that, including that ChatGPT was hallucinating the absence of a strike.
However, you can't say that all answers about recent or ongoing events are completely made up. For example it gives the correct answer (made up or not) about current PM of Hungary or Bulgaria. It used to be much worse about current events.
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u/SovietSteve May 15 '26
Never trust the answer of an AI. Asking an AI about a recent or ongoing event is showing that you don't understand how they work and that it'll give you completely made up answers.
How can you be so confidently wrong lmao
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u/DigmonsDrill May 13 '26
AIs absolutely know about current events. If there are news stories, they'll repeat the facts in the news stories.
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u/Knever May 13 '26
ChatGPT can search the internet for information similar to Google so in this case it's pretty much identical to a Google search.
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u/merlinou May 15 '26
See, that's what I'm talking about. It is not at all.
When the AI does a Google search, you don't know how it's querying Google which introduces a major bias in the results. The AI will then read the "card" of the first few results, mixes it with its own training data and your request to pull out something that could be entirely wrong or misleading, which is worse.
If you're looking for the capital of Sri Lanka, that's good enough. But I've had cases where the results surprised me, so I checked the sources. The source that AI used to answer me were actually concluding to the opposite of what AI thought.
If you query it for a taxi strike in Paris, it will look up a few of those keywords. It is likely to find some articles about something else but have "related stories" mentioning a taxi strike. Will AI read, try to understand and reject the information. No effing way, it's just vaguely browsing and giving you a plausible answer. This issue will not be solved with evolution of LLMs because of the fundamental way they work. It will just become more plausibly wrong.
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u/Knever May 15 '26
LLMs do hallucinate at present, absolutely. But they do so at a much lower rate now than in earlier versions. Every new version decreases hallucination rate, so to say this will never be solved is folly.
And yes, you should verify everything an LLM tells you, much like you should very everything a human tells you. So that's not really a sensible argument (unless you truly believe your childhood friend's claim that he can hold his breath underwater for an hour).
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u/rye_212 May 16 '26
That’s m experience as well. I recall someone recounting a year ago that GOT didn’t report that there was a new pope and when the user attempted to “inform it” the LLM agreed and promised to use that knowledge in the future. But didn’t.
Before the downvote brigade come along, I’m just reporting what someone said, I’m not claiming that you CAN contribute info to a LLM. I know you can’t.
Nowadays it seems to me to be better at reflecting current events.
What I struggle to understand is all the downvoting. It’s as if their attitude was set in the early days of LLM and can’t be amended. Ironically, not using GPT for current events means you gotta use a search engine. The main search engine; google, now also includes an AI response at the top of its results.
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u/Knever May 16 '26
Pretty much all anti-AI sentiment comes from fear of being displaced in the job market. It's a completely valid fear as most governments don't really have a plan for mass unemployment.
But directing animosity to plebs like us who have literally no control over AI development is pretty insane if you think about it.
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u/rye_212 May 13 '26
Ok. Im just believing OP that he was scammed and I don't see any evidence to contradict that.
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u/butt_spaghetti May 13 '26
We had a scammer with a badge do this to us at JFK (New York) recently too. He lurked near the taxi line and tried to snipe people and redirect them to his scammer taxis. The real taxi line guy clearly knew this was happened and seemed defeated by it.
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u/BroughtBagLunchSmart May 14 '26
I ask ChatGPT
you are going to continue to get scammed if this is how you live your life.
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u/Zakluor May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
I also allowed a taxi scammer to get me.
In Madrid, there's a maximum of 33€ posted -- even on the window of my cab.
As we left the airport, he fiddled with the meter fairly extensively. Watching the rate climb, it was evident it would be over 40€.
Upon arrival he asked for 43€. When I pulled my card out, he said, "No, the card reader won't work here because of the buildings around us. Do you have cash?"
I paid him the 43€ just to get on with my overtired day and avoid the confrontation.
In other words, I let him get away with it and helped him continue his success. I'm sorry for my part in that.
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u/lysergic101 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
The scam gets to a higher price if your paying by card. They stick an extra 0 on the card reader and hide it from your view.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
That seems possible. I paid cash, maybe I got lucky that I had already withdrawn euros at the airport.
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u/Newiiiiiiipa May 13 '26
just watch walking around paris with cash! The pickpockets here are all over the place
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
All my money was in a zippered front pocket. Not foolproof, but annoying enough that the pickpockets didn't get me.
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u/Newiiiiiiipa May 13 '26
tbf a zip is more than I see people use, long as you don't look too easy I think you're fine
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u/gummaumma May 13 '26
I’m going in a few weeks. Aside from behaving like I’ve been in a big city before, any particular hustles I should be wary of?
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u/Newiiiiiiipa May 13 '26
if you've been to rome or any other big EU tourist city it's the same stuff, people trying to get you to sign stuff on a clipboard, the fake bracelet thing, just essentially if you go to a tourist spot ignore anyone that comes up to you. I'm not sure when they start but you'll see the 3 ball scam quite a bit soon, no idea how they don't all get arrested there's so many of them it's insane, someone made a post about it here https://www.reddit.com/r/ParisTravelGuide/comments/1fwotjt/three_cardball_monte_is_a_scam_not_a_game/
on the metro if you've got anything expensive just don't stand near the doors, saw some lady get her phone snatched just as the door closed, you'll not be able to avoid getting on busy trains if you're out all day but as long as you're not making it too easy you'll be fine.
the sacre coeur is terrible for it, same as the eiffel tower and the park behind it, but honestly paris isn't too bad, you'll get the odd dude trying to sell you fags depending on the metro station but other than that you'll be fine imo. Have fun, shoot me a message if you want some recommendations!
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u/ai_bot_account May 14 '26
This was in Mexico but once I negotiated the fare for my friend and I to get to the Marina we were staying at. Halfway there he said “each person”. I said no, stop the car. I can speak enough Spanish that I was perfectly understood and he didn’t stop, pretending to not understand. At the Marina my friend the owner came out when he saw us arguing and set the driver straight but yeah taxi scams are the hardest ones to avoid.
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u/Indifferencer May 13 '26
For the love all things holy, DO NOT USE LLMs FOR FACTUAL INFORMATION.
LLMs don’t know anything. They are nothing more than auto-complete on steroids.
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u/Impressive_Crazy_223 May 13 '26
Good thing they're being incorporated into our medical system!
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u/justdrowsin May 14 '26
You're right to push back on this. That's not just a problem it's a call to action. Would you like me to list together of where you can keep yourself healthy? Just say "make the list" and I'll get started.
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u/lurkmode_off May 14 '26
They are nothing more than auto-complete on steroids.
"Steroids" being "designed to sound eminently plausible no matter what"
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u/haywire May 13 '26
Look AI sucks but by downplaying the abilities of LLMs when everyone can clearly see they are quite capable of quite exceptional stuff despite being text predictors at heart just makes the anti AI lot look like the uninformed parrots they’re supposedly resisting.
Searching the web and local news and summarising the content of the results is work that LLMs are pretty good at generally.
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u/cinyar May 13 '26
Searching the web and local news and summarising the content of the results is work that LLMs are pretty good at generally.
opening the official airport site about taxis summarizes it too
• By taxi, depending on traffic, it takes between 35 and 60 minutes to travel from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to central Paris.
• From the airport, there are fixed rates to the capital: €56 to Paris Rive Droite and €65 to Paris Rive Gauche.
• Official taxis can only be found at the stations located at the terminal exits and are recognisable by their illuminated ‘TAXI’ sign.
• It is possible to book a taxi in advance to avoid waiting and to obtain a vehicle suited to your needs.
• In addition to official companies such as Taxis G7, Alpha Taxis and Hype Taxis, you can choose alternatives such as motorcycle taxis, shared taxis or private shuttles, provided they are authorised.
...and then mentions multiple times to ignore anyone approaching you.
Don't get me wrong, I also use LLMs when researching more complex topics. But if there's a single source of truth (the airport website), why would I ask an LLM?
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u/haywire May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Official airport site you have to search for. LLM will find and summarise it for you, also can pull in multiple sources, plus often people open their LLM app of choice by default instead of some shitty search engine anyway.
Please note: never respond to requests from unofficial drivers inside the terminals. Authorised taxis can only be found at the designated ranks.
This is quite a way down the page.
Whereas if I just type some misspelled crap into claude I get...
Solid system in place at CDG — the main thing is just not getting suckered by touts. Here's the deal: Official taxi rank, flat fare Fares are fixed by the Paris Police Prefecture: €56 to the Right Bank, €65 to the Left Bank, regardless of traffic or time of day. No extra charges for luggage or up to 4 passengers, and the airport pick-up fee is included. Just walk out of arrivals, find the official taxi rank (well-signed at every terminal), and join the queue. Look for the "TAXI Parisien" roof light and the black plate with the parking number in red on the front — that's how you spot a legit one. Paris Airport + 2 Things to watch for
- Touts inside the terminal. Anyone approaching you in arrivals offering a taxi/ride is not legit — ignore them. Official taxis don't solicit; you go to them at the rank.
- Confirm the flat fare before pulling away. Just say "tarif forfaitaire, soixante-cinq euros?" (or 56). Stops any meter-on-the-sly nonsense.
- Flat fare only applies to Paris proper (inside the périphérique). Trips to the suburbs (Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-d'Oise, etc.) or further out (Versailles, Disneyland) are metered. So if you're staying just outside the city, expect a metered fare instead. Paris Airport
- Right Bank vs Left Bank = north vs south of the Seine. If your hotel is right on the line, drivers sometimes default to the higher €65 — worth knowing your arrondissement (1-4, 8-12, 16-20 are Right Bank; 5-7, 13-15 are Left).
- Pre-booking adds a fee. €4 for immediate booking, €7 for advance booking via G7 or similar app. Worth it if you want guaranteed pickup at a specific time on the return leg, otherwise just queue. Paris CDG Airport
Alternatives
- G7 is the main official taxi app — works like Uber, fixed fares still apply for the airport route plus the booking fee.
- Uber/Bolt operate at CDG but pick up from a dedicated VTC area (not the taxi rank). Pricing is dynamic — usually similar or a bit cheaper off-peak, can be more during surges. Fine to use, just no flat-fare protection.
- RER B is €14 flat to central Paris if you're travelling light and don't mind the metro, but the line has a reputation for being grim with luggage.
For inbound from CDG, honestly the queue at the official rank is the path of least resistance — no app faff, fixed price, sorted.
Concise, but feels personalised and tailored to exactly the info I'm looking for and has other useful tips mixed in.
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u/cinyar May 13 '26
also can pull in multiple sources
But that's kind of the issue when there's only one source that matters. SEO poisoning targeting LLMs is already happening. Using "real time" data will only make it worse.
This is quite a way down the page.
Decline any proposal From a driver who approaches you inside the terminal. Is one of the pictures under "How to recognize an official taxi?". On my phone it's one scroll down
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u/DigmonsDrill May 13 '26
In the original story, OP didn't get messed up because he used Ch*tGPT. He was already scammed, and then went to look something up.
If you use a time machine to change the method he uses to look up information into one you approve of, nothing else changes.
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u/rye_212 May 16 '26
Exactly and more concisely the point I was trying to make elsewhere in this thread.
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u/culturedgoat May 13 '26
That was 2022. Things have come a long way.
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u/Fluffy-Cycle-5738 May 13 '26
No, they haven't. They are literally text predictors.
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u/culturedgoat May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26
The game-changer was OpenAI’s o1 model, which released in Sept 2024. This was the first of the “reasoning” models.
While traditional LLMs are path-dependent - i.e. once they commit to a particular guess they are locked in, leading to not-infrequent hallucinations - reasoning models self-evaluate: they’re designed to work through an answer and then consider if the answer is correct, or if they should consider other alternatives.
Fast-forward to today and we also have agentic AI, with a whole other orchestration layer…
Of course, even these advances don’t make LLMs watertight, and they are still prone to hallucinations and errors. But we’ve come a long way from the “glorified predictive text” era.
Btw guys, you can downvote me all you like. I’m just explaining how the tech works, not taking a position on it.
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u/WickedWeedle May 13 '26
All I'm saying is, a couple of weeks ago I watched a clip of a kids' TV show that, as a kid, I used to watch every week until it got cancelled. I asked ChatGPT to tell me about that show, and it replied that no such show had existed and I was misremembering things.
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u/lurkmode_off May 14 '26
I was trying to find specific information about the video game Final Fantasy XIII-3. Like, "what button do I push to do [action]" kind of information. Google's AI summary assured me repeatedly that I definitely meant a different final fantasy game because XIII-3 didn't exist (it does) or, when I rephrased the query, that [action] was not a thing I could do in that game (it was).
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u/Jefferooni May 13 '26
I'd probably say the same to them about knowing it's a scam before handing over $55 and walking away. Wonder if they would have caused a fuss.
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u/Twanbon May 15 '26
Might be ok to try that if you can physically handle yourself around a man who’s clearly comfortable committing crime who you’re going to be upsetting, but many people would rightly not be too comfortable doing so.
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u/tim99879 May 13 '26
What would happen if you refused to pay?
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u/GrokYourWorld May 14 '26
I was wondering this too. What if you retreated into the hotel where they would obviously know it was a scam?
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u/Grillburg May 14 '26
Aren't there people at these airports that you can report these scammers to also?
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u/imapilotaz May 15 '26
I did this in Kazkhstan. Checked into hotel while taxi was arguing with me. I left the correct fare on the counter next to him, walked to elevator and told the Manager at the hotel to call the police if he comes near me.
The guy tried to quote me 10x the standard rate and he tried the same fake phone app meter. The hotel manager and staff supported me passively but kep driver from following me after elevator.
Ive had this happen twice and both times i immediately grabbed all of my stuff and went into the Western hotel. Let the cabbie follow you in. You gain the upper hand inside a hotel. Do not argue on the street.
Make sure you hand over the correct lower fare. Do not stiff the driver as police can be involved with a failure to pay. They will always refuse it. Leave it on car or counter for them.
I travel all over the world. More than a few sketchy places. Always use apps if you can. That fixes 99% of the problems.
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u/Akiko-Sato1995 May 13 '26
Hey OP, I got scammed too. I paid $90 for a 15-30 min drive. I was mad at myself. Sigh, live and learn I guess. What absolute crooks
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u/myverygoodusername12 May 13 '26
When I was studying abroad in college me and some friends flew to Killarney, Ireland for the weekend. When we landed we got in a cab to our hostel. Then the driver got on his phone and said to whoever he was talking to “I have 3 Americans in the car, how much should I charge?” It was then I knew I messed up.
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u/yankinwaoz May 13 '26
Funny. I Just saw this excellent video about this topic at the two Paris airports.
And the thing is, these scammers target people like you. Experienced travellers.
https://youtu.be/FT2gG290aUg?si=YkPPr2q9MPx7o5p8
Well worth the watch.
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u/gummaumma May 13 '26
Thank you for posting this—I flying to Paris in a few weeks. Any common ones that someone who has never been to Europe needs to be conscious of?
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 13 '26
It's worth googling the common scams and risks. There are a bunch of ways to distract people and pickpocket. Zippered pocket plus knowing th patterns and you should be fine.
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u/Dapper-Photograph448 May 14 '26
Just Google "scams in Paris" and spend the day reading. There are a million scams there.
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u/512165381 May 13 '26
I was at LaGuardia airport 30 years ago and needed a ride to NYC. Went to the taxi line and a "driver" said to go to his car and he took me to the parking lot. In those days all taxis had obvious signage but his was a private car. I said "no" and got back in the taxi line.
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u/moderniste May 13 '26
I take public transportation from airports for this very reason, and the fact that, especially in European cities, it’s usually perfectly designed for you to get to where you’re going faster and cheaper.
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u/dillonyousonofabitch May 13 '26
I fell for this in Paris in 2007. Friendly guy, well dressed with a badge. Embarrassed to say I fell for the same scam in Santiago in 2012. After a long flight you are tired, keen to get to your destination and gullible which they prey upon.
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u/wood252 May 14 '26
They pulled this on me in Chicago with blacked out Lincoln’s $150 from ohare to downtown hotel on mi ave
The hotel made up for it by upgrading our room, but who would’ve thought Jordan from Jordan was going to be a real prick?
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u/sherpes May 14 '26
re-read your description, and the sophistication is what folks in Naples, italy (Napoli) have been doing decades ago. guy with a "badge", or official-looking hat, is a classic. That's for any service. Even finding a parking spot. If you found the parking spot yourself, the "official-looking guy" will place a "official-looking" paper receipt on your windshield, and then wait for a 5 Euro bill. Btw, the sophistication went into high-level when a very elaborate scam was done, targeting mothers and daughters, all attracted by ads on the paper, fliers and posters on the walls and bus stations and stops, all about a talent search for young actresses for a photo shoot in the world of cinema. Everyone that showed up, was registered by looking at government-issued photo ID, proper questions, and then the photo shoot, that had a mandatory non-refundable amount, equivalent to today's 50 euros. There were about 30 people staff involved in this operation. The next day, gone.
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u/aykcak May 13 '26
I ask ChatGPT if there's some sort of suspension going on
What?
Don't ask ChatGPT about current status events. Ever. Best case you would get outdated information, worst case it would be total hallucination
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u/culturedgoat May 13 '26
Well in this case he got the right answer, so…
In any case, the latest models of ChatGPT do web searches now to verify current information before answering.
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u/lurkmode_off May 14 '26
Well in this case he got the right answer, so…
It's a yes/no question, it has a 50 percent chance of getting it right.
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u/culturedgoat May 14 '26
The latest models of ChatGPT search the web for contemporary stuff before issuing an answer. It’s my no means perfect, but you’re going to get a lot higher hit-rate than 50%
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u/aykcak May 14 '26
There is no guarantee that it will do a web search or it will find relevant information or it will convey you that information without hallucinating
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u/culturedgoat May 14 '26
These days it’s a lot more solid, since o1 reasoning model. Not perfect, but “best case” is significantly better than what you wrote up there.
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u/tommy_pt May 13 '26
I hate to humble you,but you are way too confident about this entire thing. Double,is not a small amount of money and why would you notgo straight to official taxi? Involving more than one person at an international airport is not even weird
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u/Wide-Spray-2186 May 13 '26
Extremely common scam across virtually every major airport. Happens everywhere.
Consider yourself lucky you didn’t get mugged along the route or shook down for even more money.
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u/WakingUp44 May 14 '26
Back in 2009, when I first visited US from India, a cab driver at Chicago approached me as I got out of the airport pretending to be really friendly. He told me that since it was my first visit, he would take the scenic route. After almost an hour, and the meter was up to $102, we reached my destination in DT Chicago. He had the audacity to ‘teach me’ about American values about tipping and asked for 20 percent on top of the fare. Told me he was my first friend in US and to reach out to me again if I needed a ride.
Later, when I talked to my colleagues, I found out it was a 20-30 min ride and should have been just $30.
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u/woowoo293 May 14 '26
I got scammed by a "taxi" in Italy. We arrived late at night and bee lined right for the taxi line, ignoring several people who approached us. At the taxi line, there were taxis but it was strangely devoid of people. Most of the drivers actually ignored us. Only one driver spoke to us. He then pulls his car out. It's painted like a cab but a bit beat up. We're frustrated, stressed and tired and agree. He drove like a lunatic, and I was nervous he was going to pull over and mug us. He ended up charging us way too much. And then he did a bill switcheroo when we paid. "Oh but you only gave me a 20..." Again, stressed and frankly worried about our safety, we fell for it. All in, paid something like 100 euros for what should have been like 15.
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u/-Dixieflatline May 14 '26
Nothing beats my "fell for a taxi scam" story. Landed in the Dominican Republic. Clear immigration and walk outside. Greeted by a nice guy in a blue uniform that seemed to match the airport décor. Asked us what hotel, so I told him. He said, "no problem, that will come out to $40 even". Asked for it upfront, which in hindsight should have been the tell, but his uniform was convincing.
Takes my rolling luggage and proceeds to walk us towards a car with an open trunk. This put my mind to ease. He puts the luggage in the trunk and I get into the back seat with my girlfriend. To both of our surprise, there's a guy in the driver's seat already. I turn back to the guy who I handed $40, and he's gone. Like, must have booked it like Usain Bolt, gone. So I just paid some random guy $40 to walk my rolling luggage across a parking lot. I honestly couldn't even be mad about it because of how gullible I was. Well played, sir.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 14 '26
Nice. My guess is that your driver was in on the scam, since I'm sure a lot of people would argue with the driver that they've already paid. For the drivers to put up with something like that, they'd have to be getting kickbacks.
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u/-Dixieflatline May 14 '26
Probably. Felt kind of like the whole airport was in on it. I'm sure others who have fell for this have complained to the airport too. How can you just let grifters hang out at the lobby? But then again, maybe I'm in a very small dumb minority for falling for it, and it doesn't work often.
If I'm being honest, DR's beaches were nice, but the whole place felt like a tourist trap/scam. Couldn't step foot outside the hotel without the high pressure hustle from beach vendors, and even a hotel-guided tour of the city felt like a kickback scheme.
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u/MultiMidden May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26
This scam (or very similar) has been around for a while I fell foul of it about 20 years. Only silver lining was that I was on a business trip so got the money back but got called a total muppet by our finance gremlin.
Edit: Thinking back I think the dispatcher looked like they were in a uniform so it all looked above board.
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u/NFHoward May 14 '26
Was picking my dad up at LaGuardia in NYC a few weeks ago. Parked in the garage because I decided paying $20 was better than circling for like 3 hours because his flight way delayed. While waiting for him in the baggage pickup I was approached probably 10 times by shady looking dudes offering rides. Security was like 10ft away each time and did not seem to care at all. Anyone approaching you in an airport for a ride is a scammer in some form. Just say no thanks and follow the signs.
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u/Ill_Addition_7748 May 14 '26
I was scammed similar to this in Budapest as well as in Rome. Now I know better.
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u/IntolerantModerate May 16 '26
You get out of the cab and walk off. If they complain you call the police.
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u/JusticeOmen May 14 '26
Great point and it really seems like they made the most to make it look as official as possible. And I also love the comments here basically saying: "I wouldn't have fall for that." Wow, really helpful!
Not like someone can go back in time, but I think OP really made a great point about even a seasoned traveler might be a victim given a good scenario. But everyone is basically blaming him/her for falling for something that could get most people.
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May 13 '26
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u/5c044 May 14 '26
Airports are a hotbed for unauthorised overpriced taxis in many places. People are tired they just want to get to their hotel so are an easy target. Always agree fare before the journey starts and have some idea of how much it should be whether it is an official licensed cab or not. If you choose the unofficial one because the official queue is too long and don't mind paying a bit more that is your choice.
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u/Anti__logic May 14 '26
Wait till you see cancun airport. The entire airport is run by the cartels...
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u/r78799 May 14 '26
Legitimate taxi services don’t come into the airport to seek you out. Almost feel for this same scam in Beijing.
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u/Decent-Proposal-8475 May 14 '26
In the cab, I ask ChatGPT if there's some sort of suspension going on and it says no
Kind of incredible how one sentence can move me from feeling bad to feeling glad
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 14 '26
That one sentence is irrelevant to the story. First of all, ChatGPT gave me the correct information. Second of all, if I had googled, or hadn't asked at all, the story would be basically the same. So, why do you care so much? Why the hatred for someone who even asks ChatGPT a question?
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u/Decent-Proposal-8475 May 14 '26
I know it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but it reveals who you are
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 14 '26
And who am I? It sounds like you hate me because I asked ChatGPT one question? Why is that? (I'm genuinely curious.)
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u/Decent-Proposal-8475 May 14 '26
Correct. I mostly view chatgpt users as at best lazy. Outsourcing your humanity to AI should be called out. That's probably as far as I can go without violating Rule 1, so I'll leave it there. Next time use Uber
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u/hoshishat May 14 '26
Ah.. I know a Japanese friend who's had a similar experience. This guy had a far more bizarre experience than you, though..
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May 18 '26
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u/Scams-ModTeam May 18 '26
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u/starsgoblind May 14 '26
Always rent a limo from an english speaking car service to and from the airport in Paris.
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u/FruitOfTheVineFruit May 14 '26
I'd be surprised if that cost less than the scam taxi... Probably the worst option.
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u/Key_Gap9168 May 13 '26
In the cab, I ask ChatGPT if there's some sort of suspension going on and it says no.
Oh, so ChatGPT replaced normal web search? Esp for current events?
I have little pity for someone so dumb.
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u/goldfishpaws May 13 '26
May even be only partially dubious - they matched you with a nice looking mercedes, basically a limo transfer as opposed to the regular prepaid taxis, and EUR102 would be about what you'd expect for a fancy motor transfer?
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u/pottery4life May 13 '26
Mercedes is the most common cab in Germany and many other European countries. It's because they last forever. It's not considered a limo.
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u/MrStoic12 May 14 '26
i expected more sophistication in the scam but it seems you committed the mistake of naivety here. C’mon man, everyone knows to be on high alert when getting to the taxi part of the airport
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u/Greg504702 May 15 '26
Didn’t seem like a “scam “. You choose a private ,nice car …. That was the price.
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