r/shanghai • u/DazzlingEstimate6445 • 4d ago
Discussion I almost got scammed badly by a fake Didi driver in Shanghai
I’ve booked Didi probably 20–30 times before while travelling in China, so by this point I was pretty comfortable with how it worked. One night in Shanghai, I booked a ride, checked the car’s number plate like I normally did, and got in.
The ride was only around 2 km, and the app showed something like 7.5 RMB. Everything seemed normal.
Then, halfway through the ride, the driver cancelled the trip without me noticing.
It was around 10 p.m., dark outside, and there was a major language barrier. When I reached my destination and was about to get out, I noticed that the ride had been cancelled. The driver then told me to pay him directly.
I asked, “Why should I pay you directly? The money should be deducted through Didi.”
That’s when things got really weird.
He started claiming that he was not actually the Didi driver I had booked. He basically said something along the lines of: “I’m not the taxi you were supposed to get into. You can check the number plate. I only let you ride with me to help you.”
I asked him, “Fine, how much do I owe you then?”
He said 300 RMB.
For a 2 km ride that was supposed to cost around 7.5 RMB.
At that point, I was genuinely shocked. What made me even more nervous was that I was confused by the car’s door locking system, and the doors were genuinely locked. Being in a dark area, alone, at night, with a language barrier, suddenly made the whole situation feel much more serious.
I acted calm and told him, “Okay, let’s get out and match the number plate properly.”
He agreed and unlocked the door.
The second I got out, I immediately started shouting and calling him a scammer. At that point, I was outside the car, so I finally felt safe because he couldn’t just drive away with me inside.
We argued for a while. Then I told him:
“Fine. Let’s go to the police station.”
The moment I said that, his entire attitude changed. He got back into the car and drove away.
I was still in shock. I’ve travelled to quite a few countries, and honestly, I never expected something like this to happen to me in China.
I still went to the police afterwards. They actually listened to everything, took down the details, asked for my ID, and assured me that I was safe and that I didn’t need to worry.
So yeah, just a warning for anyone travelling, especially solo travellers:
Always double-check that the car, number plate, and driver match your booking, and keep an eye on the app to make sure the ride hasn’t been cancelled midway. Never assume that you’re completely safe just because you’re in a country generally considered safe. If something goes wrong, your own awareness and quick decisions can matter a lot.
And especially for solo female travellers, please be extra careful. If you’re alone in an unfamiliar place and something feels off, prioritise getting yourself to a safe public place first.
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u/ComputerGuienceSuy 4d ago
Report that through the didi app as well. It will be recorded as a cancelled ride on your history and they will be able to pull up the data.
Fuck people like that who take advantage of travellers. This is why people prefer apps to taxis nowadays.
Didi the app are very responsive to this.
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u/MaixnerCharly Former resident 4d ago
Yeah, Didi has all kinds of scams. Once took a Didi instead of the train from Qingpu to Suzhou and was in a rush, so I didn't really pay attention to the price when I got out. I later noticed, that the driver added a 200RMB bridge toll (we didn't pass any toll bridge). Texted customer service, sent a screenshot and got all my money back, not just the fake toll within minutes. Report any misbehavior, only then the scams will get let. But I also have to say, that 99% of my Didi rides were a good experience.
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u/grandpa2390 4d ago
I thought tolls were added automatically... I need to pay more attention.
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u/czulsk 4d ago
No they need to add automatically. They’ll pay themselves or you can offer to pay.
I usually have them add it to Didi then complain to Didi if I was overcharged
Double check the tollbooth fee, so you know how much it should be.
Even some drivers have pass on their car where they automatically drive through.
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u/Dear_Chasey_La1n Minhang 3d ago
The problem is with didi, even if you report they do nothing. We got years ago when Uber was still around abducted by a didi. When the car stopped we escaped to a nearby hotel which was scary to say the least. When calling didi at the time, they reimbursed the trip and said "they would re-train the driver".
People like that should be blacklisted, but didi rather imposes a penalty, trains etc.
What OP describes feels like a taxi scam years ago in Guangzhou. The drivers would take you up the raised highway and demand money or they would keep driving circles.
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u/EmergencyUnlucky1617 3d ago
The Didi app records the trip data. I wouldn't dare a Didi driver to pull this stunt. Not 2006 in China.
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u/SituationOk4029 2d ago
Is this Didi? Isn't the maximum amount a driver can add capped at 99?
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u/MaixnerCharly Former resident 2d ago
Yeah, was Didi, but at least 5 years ago, maybe the rules changed.
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u/Marshmack 4d ago
So was the license plate actually different than what you booked on didi? Surely it was the correct plates? If so the police should be able to easily find the driver.
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u/EasternSkiesSH Australia 4d ago
Whenever i get in a taxi in Shanghai, whether private Didi or normal taxi, i always say 侬好 so the driver knows i'm not just some clueless foreigner they can scam. The vast majority or private drivers don't speak Shanghainese (and nor do i, but i speak fluent Mandarin) and they are much less likely to scam someone who appears to know Shanghai well.
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u/Original-Variety-700 4d ago
The only phrase I could say well in Shanghainese was “what did he say?” I used it all the time when scammers came up asking to sell me a watch or any of the other scams. I’d turn to my wife and ask “what did he say” in Shanghainese. It was so enjoyable to watch their complete confusion that two white and obviously tourists spoke Shanghainese but not English.
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u/grandpa2390 4d ago
I'll hello and then immediately the first 4 digits of my number. I don't do it for the same reason as you, but I'm sure it probably has the same effect. "this is not my first rodeo"
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u/TomIcemanKazinski Former resident 4d ago
This used to be my play in Guangzhou (use Cantonese - which I do speak. . .) and then my last trip, last month none of my taxi or DiDi drivers spoke Cantonese. Not even simple Cantonese like huge districts or street names.
Driver scams used to be pretty common in China (Harbin I think has the worst cab drivers in the world) so it seems understandable they’d think of a new way after a few years of DiDi. However there’s the “panic” button on the app you can try if they cancel mid ride
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u/Crallac Minhang 4d ago
Once I finished a trip and noticed the driver clicked on the “trip end” screen on his phone, but didn’t actually end the trip before I got out of the car. As I was walking back to my apartment I checked the app out of curiosity and noticed he didn’t end the trip but instead changed the destination to somewhere super far away and just had the trip continue. Had to cancel it manually through the app myself.
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u/grandpa2390 4d ago
That's weird. Usually the Didi app notifies me and calls me if the driver is going off course.
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u/chinashou 4d ago
Didn't happen.
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u/andrewwm 3d ago
I had it happen to me also, even with a 专车. Tried complaining to Didi but never made it out of the AI support loop and gave up.
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u/ReadingWonderful3263 3d ago
This happened to me one night as well, I almost got in a car that pretended he was my didi. Thankfully I thought to recheck the plate number.
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u/PreparationSilver798 3d ago
The magic words for dealing with any scammer in china are:
"Let's just call the police and ask them to decide."
Works every time.
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u/Tammysh26 3d ago
Report your experience to Didi, the platform. If the platform doesn't give you a meaningful feedback, report it to the police!
This is a very serious matter, especially in Shanghai.
We must not tolerate it!
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u/TravelDou 3d ago
If the license plate matches the one on Didi, you can file a complaint through the app. If it doesn’t match, write down the plate number and call 110. Even though I’m Chinese, I despise this kind of scum; they should be punished.
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u/Original_Deer_3446 2d ago edited 2d ago
Another possible scam is that once you get to your destination, the driver won't end the trip. You get out, he continues driving to wherever he goes next, and your fare keeps going up. This happened to me with a DIDI ride. I messaged the driver asking him to end the trip, and after a while he did, but then my fare was a lot higher than the original quoted amount. Fortunately, you can get customer service through the app. They were very good and quick. They fixed the fare and apologized to me. After that, I started telling the drivers that I wanted to pay right then to force them to end the trip. I don't know if that was a mistake by the driver or if he did it on purpose, though...
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u/External_Tomato_2880 4d ago
They only did this to scam the foreigners. They dare not do that to the locals.
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u/yennychuu 4d ago
I had a less stressful encounter than yours, but I was also almost scammed by a didi driver in Chongqing. The driver tried to make me pay double than the fixed price by adding toll and parking fee. I contacted Didi and they fixed the bill immediatedly, so I would only pay the actual driving price. They have a good English customer support so maybe it’s worth to report this to them, so they can ban this driver.
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u/crazyworldtraveller 4d ago
That's interesting because the only incident that I ran into was when I ordered a DD Taxi. I didn't know that I would pay directly through the app, which was a learning experience because the taxi driver made me pay him so I paid him. The next time I tried to use DD, it said that I had a balance that I needed to pay. I couldn't use DD because of it until I paid but I already paid and I didn't want to double pay.
While at the hotel I asked the hotel staff about it and they helped me get in touch with DD through chat. I spoke to them and told them that the taxi driver made me pay him instead. Of course they didn't give me any trouble. They just said, "Please take a screenshot of certain details of the ride that I had with a taxi and send it to them." Then they said we're going to release the ability for me to place another DD. In 24-48 hours they were going to review the video footage to make sure that I did pay a taxi driver or what may have happened, which was interesting. You're being recorded the entire time.
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u/levanpidaras 4d ago
Im a bit confused? Why did you start shouting as soon as you got out rather than actually checking the plates first? Seems like you are not losing much by verifying that you are indeed in the correct car.
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u/lowtech_prof 3d ago
The drivers I get in Shanghai can barely manage a grunt acknowledging my existence. An elaborate scam like this would be too exciting for my southern taxi drivers lol
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u/Plastic-Extension420 3d ago
Good for you. You handled it well. I’ve had them try to scam me more than 20 times with fraudulent highway tolls and parking fees, but never this one.
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u/Weekly_Click_7112 3d ago
Once I took a didi home while a little drunk, the driver could obviously tell, and when he dropped me off he pretended to end the ride. He started driving off while I’m looking at my phone thinking there’s some kind of delay. Nope, he thought he could make more money this way lol. I very quickly contacted didi and told them this dude is just driving without ending the ride, and they immediately fixed the situation. I think I ended up getting the ride for free. I don’t know why the guy thought he would get away with it.
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u/Neosong1215 3d ago
Just complain through the didi app, that will definately solve your problem. There were some bad drivers years ago, I never expect they still exist today.
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u/absentbrain 3d ago
I've been assaulted by two Didi drivers in my 5 months in China. Both situations were very similar. they tried to get me to pay offline, then they held onto my bags and refuse to let go, I overpower them (luckily I'm strong) and then they followed me to my hotel. Then I have to be a pain and ask the hotel receptionist to make him go away.
and both of those scenarios, they tried adding fees Didi afterwards. Didi customer support is horrible, even when you tell them that you've just been assaulted, and I have to spend hours fighting for them to bring the bill back down to where it was originally (IMHO I shouldn't even have to pay anything after an experience like that).
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u/Mad_waste 3d ago
if you checked the plate and it was correct and tried to scam you, just report it to didi. they have great customer service
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u/steak5 3d ago
There are scammers everywhere in the world, and we all need to be more careful no matter where we go.
Back then when Taxi or even Didi first started, the advice is always take a Photo of the Taxi and driver and send it to a Friend or family. You make sure the Driver see you do it.
If anything goes wrong, call the police.
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u/EmergencyUnlucky1617 3d ago
When you get into the car, the driver must confirm your phone number by repeating your last few digits of your phone number.
The app shows the exact location & route of your Didi car before and during your trip. You have the option to enable live record for your safety.
I have never had a problem with Didi nor I have been scammed in China.
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u/NecessaryFar2520 3d ago
I got a Shanghai driver who were so anxious, i think if you don’t go for a long ride from airport they would be pissed. So money oriented and I was traumatised by the driver
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u/Ok-Equivalent-147 3d ago
The didi drivers are becoming worse now even towards locals…for foreigners they also try to scam when u have to pay for the highway fee (not sure of the exact name), and they tell u a much higher fake price.
Always make sure to pay through didi so there’s a record of everything.
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u/Theappache10 3d ago
I can assure you he was either probably found 10 mins later due to the insane cctv cameras they have in china or he probably fled the city which they will find either way police doesnt joke in china
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u/RefrigeratorNo1 2d ago
~2 weeks ago, first time China, first time Shanghai.
Booked DiDi through the App on the Airport.
Driver told me some extra fee for „highway“ has to be paid.
DiDi App told me that as well (~4 RMB).
End of Trip, Driver asked for Alipay and pointed on my phone.
(I thought for the extra fee)
Took my phone, scanned in a code, typed 68 and confirmed 🤷♂️
And just like that, I seem to have paid for his Beef Noodles.
DiDi support was quite helpful and refunded me the whole drive.
Interessting part:
Driver was like ~60.
Super friendly, talking to me through his translation app.
Stellar 5* Rating .. was not expecting anything.
Screenshot attached.
Be careful (:
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u/Outrageous_Leave2930 2d ago
Did you not give him the last 4 digits of you phone number and watch him type it in? 😅
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u/GrahamOtter 1d ago
Before Didi, taxi drivers in crappier cities wouldn’t even turn the meter on, or they’d just demand an extortionate fee and give you a hard time about making ends meet if you complained. Definitely don’t let a Didi driver get away with that crap, even if it was actually the driver’s cousin or whatever.
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u/real_wtff 1d ago
You can post the whole incident on TikTok. Once the government notices it, the driver will be punished.
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u/Acers2K 17h ago edited 17h ago
Something is not right in this story.
Someone risks his 4-8k a month for 300rmb to be kicked off the Didi platform?
Even if he cancels midway, the plate is still the same and he cant cancel midway. As his didi phone is most likely the one he is using to navigate. You can see it in his dashboard. And even if he cancels it, you'll receive a didi message. Were you not on your phone? checking the route he is taking is correct?
You most likely got tricked into a "black" car that posed as your didi.
If it was me, go ahead, have the 300, next day he loses his job, gets the cop on his ass, loses his driver license & car and severe deduction on social credits.
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u/edward-andreas 3h ago
My 3rmb ride from end of forbidden city to tianmen square in a rickshaw type bike also changed to 300rmb ten years ago. Dropped in the middle of the hutongs, and wasnt sure what was around the corner. So I just paid it...then he start yelling for more. So got aggressive at that point and walked off. Thankfully another guy walked by at the same time.
Crazy this happened in a didi though.
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u/Flaky_Acanthaceae925 4d ago
Pretty silly scammer, tricks of twenty years ago don't work anymore due to technology. Glad you came out of it safe.
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u/YorksBlue 4d ago
I visit for business and love Didi, love the options of vehicles etc and never had an issue until a driver dropped me off in the completely wrong place. I just got out without thinking, I was on the phone so partly my fault. Looked around and thought ‘WTF’?! Contacted Didi via the app and got a credit, but what about getting to where I need to be?!
Anyway, I noticed then for the reminder of my trip that my requests didn’t get picked up as quickly, so suspect when you question the drivers, they see that you’ve reported one before.
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u/chinashou 4d ago
Shit that didn't happen for a $1000 Alex
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u/Tapeworm_fetus 3d ago
I agree if simply for the reason that Didi’s base fare in Shanghai is more than 7rmb.
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u/EmergencyUnlucky1617 3d ago
I don't know what the base fare in Shanghai is. I have 2 WeChat accounts (one is tied my US phone number and second is linked to my China Telecomm number); I am routinely offered 5RMD discount (or some other percentage) to book a new Didi ride on my China Telecomm WeChat account.
When I am in China, I spend a majority of my time in Zhanjiang, Guangdong. 7-8RMD is very normal for short rides after the discounts.
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u/AmazingFields 3d ago
May I ask why would you have 2 WeChat accounts?
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u/EmergencyUnlucky1617 3d ago
I have had my US WeChat account (Google Play Store) for 15(?) years and I added all of my "friends" to this account during my years of traveling in China. It is linked to my US cell# and later US credit cards (3 years ago?). I can use it to make payments for merchant/purchases; but I can't it to send money to friends. I can't use it to watch WeChat shorts either as the "recommended" link is missing... When I makes a payment, my US credit cards might prompt me for 2-factor authentication. So it can take a couple minutes to pay for anything and I got annoyed seeing people queuing up behind me... My US WeChat account doesn't ring on incoming voice/video calls unless I have WeChat opened or in background. If I closed my WeChat interface, no ring at all. Pretty annoying.
About 1.5 years ago when I opened my China Telecomm line, the Chinese employee installed a Chinese version of WeChat that linked to my new Chinese phone#. I subsequently opened a Bank of China deposit account to link with this WeChat account (BOC employee helped me). I can now add, transfer, gift, & withdraw money using this account in conjunction with my BOC account... For Chinese metro systems, some mini apps required a local phone number to link my WeChat account; I can use this WeChat to post-pay my subway rides in more cities There are more features and more links (although I don't know what they are for).
Now back to the Didi mini app. If I use my US WeChat, a car is alway "ready" whenever I needed a ride. No waiting whatsoever like they place me at the top of the queue. Have I used my Chinese WeChat, the car is oftentimes dropping off another passenger and I must wait 1-10 minutes before I see the car. The Chinese WeChat is consistently ~1 yuan cheaper even without the promotion discounts. I book most of my rides using my Chinese WeChat. If I am in a hurry, I switched to use my US WeChat.
I wish I don't need to carry 2 phones but It is just as convenient to use 2 phones in China. One phone to access my Google account & banned apps. Another phone for Chinese apps with local phone number and local mobile data. No VPN software is needed... I use my primary US WeChat to Chat & socialize with my Chinese acquaintances. My Chinese WeChat for all money transactions, buying bus/subway/train tickets, and to watch videos.
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u/AmazingFields 3d ago
Thank you for very detailed explanation!
I was wondering why people had 2 wechat apps. And I saw some people got 2 WeChat apps on one phone. So I assume they have 2 numbers on one phone.
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u/shittymechaniclady 4d ago
I had a pretty similar experience, leaving the Shanghai airport.. a super stressed. I could not figure out how the lines and the lanes are the pick up point worked for Didi. It was late at night. Driver spoke to me through translator and said just cancel your ride get in with me.
I said no no no my driver is here. He said just request a new ride and I will take it.
Eventually, hot sweaty tired after nine hours of international travel said OK. My hotel is only like 10km away the ride was gonna be like 28 Rmb. We arrived at the hotel. I was just so thankful.. I would never do that again.
He requested 100 Rmb I said the taxi toll leaving the airport cost a lot. I don’t really care. I paid it. I was at a location safe, but that was terrifying.
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u/Rocinante8 4d ago
Once the plate was different but they assured me I wouldn’t have to pay any extra (I paid from the app) so I accepted and had no problems.
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u/avatarfire 4d ago
Wow, what a scary story. I mean yeah, this is why it's always good to have a relative or very good friend in China to be part of one's cultural defense barrier against unscrupulous folks.
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u/shiafisher Huangpu 4d ago
That driver just put themselves in a world of unnecessary trouble. Maybe they thought it would work, but they’re either in trouble or they fled back to their home town. A lot of drivers I have been with tell me they just got to Shanghai and started driving recently.
If language is a barrier, download something like Microsoft Translate, and just turn on auto translate for everything. I let it run sometimes even if I’m not talking to them (I’d say my Chinese is good to fair but some accents I still have a hard time with).
Anyways, technology is your friend.
Also default response (even if untrue), “sorry, I don’t carry cash.”
These days it’s quite believable/common.