Another Taxi Fare Scam... This Time "I Need to Use the Bathroom Urgently"

In Changwon, Gyeongnam, a story has sparked public outrage online after two women in their 20s, who took a taxi, got off saying they urgently needed to use the restroom and then disappeared without paying the fare. Recently, an online community called 'Bobaedream' posted a story titled "Don't fall victim to this new taxi fare evasion method."

[Photo by BobaeDream capture]

According to taxi driver Mr. A, who reported the incident, he picked up two women estimated to be in their 20s in Sangnam-dong, Seongsan-gu, Changwon City, Gyeongnam, on the 6th.

The two boarded the taxi asking to go to Yongwon-dong, Jinhae, a trip that takes over 30 minutes from the starting point. Shortly after, one of the women said, "I urgently need to use the restroom," and asked to be let off briefly. When Mr. A agreed, the other woman said, "Let me go with you," and also got off.

Trusting the passengers, Mr. A waited standing for about 20 minutes. However, they showed no sign of returning, and eventually, Mr. A had no choice but to start driving again, giving up on the 6,000 won fare recorded on the meter.

In an interview with a media outlet, Mr. A said, "Usually in such cases, they leave a phone number or leave something with me, but since they said it was a long trip, I let them off with a pure heart," adding, "Since they didn’t come back quickly, I thought it must be an urgent matter, so I waited for quite a while."

He also lamented, "The morning rush hour determines a taxi driver's daily income," and "While waiting, I couldn’t accept any calls, so the loss was significant."

Mr. A added, "I plan to wait until today to see if the parties involved contact me voluntarily after seeing the community post, and then decide whether to report it to the police," but also said, "I wonder if the police would even bother with something like this, so I’m thinking about just giving up."

He stated, "I don’t need the money, but I reported this because I want to restore the broken order in society."

Netizens who read the story reacted with comments like, "Why are people so bold about running away without paying these days?" and "Selling their conscience for a few thousand won."

Recently, incidents of passengers fleeing without paying taxi fares have been continuous.

In July, a man used a taxi for over 900 km over two days, traveling from Sejong to Daegu and Changwon, then ran off without paying 770,000 won, prompting a police investigation.

In the same month, a teenage boy who took a taxi from Incheon to Cheonan, Chungnam, claiming his grandmother had an accident, fled without paying the 130,000 won fare upon arrival. The boy was caught by the police and stated, "I had to go to Cheonan to meet my girlfriend, but I had no money or time," which sparked public outrage.

Fare evasion can be punished under criminal law as fraud if it is habitual or intentional, with penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment or fines up to 20 million won. However, if intent is not proven, it is treated as a minor offense under the Minor Offenses Act, with fines up to 100,000 won.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.