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Brussels taxi drivers swindle passengers for thousands of euros

14:56 06/12/2019

Four locals have become the victim of swindlers posing as taxi drivers who’ve defrauded them of thousands of euros.

The taxi passengers were all presented with a device that looked like a payment terminal but in reality recorded their PIN codes. The fraudulent taxi drivers then told the passengers that the terminal was broken and that they would have to pay in cash, using the diversion to give the passengers back a debit card that wasn't theirs.   

Many of the victims only realised that the driver had taken their debit cards hours later, by which time the fraudsters had already been able to withdraw thousands of euros from their account.

Brussels police told Bruzz that an investigation had been opened into the taxi driver scam method. The four victims respectively lost €3,000, €2,400, €600 and €4,500. Only the last victim was refunded the money by his bank. It’s not yet clear whether the other victims will ever be able to recover the money stolen from their accounts.

The police estimate that 10 people have fallen prey to the taxi driver scam method in the capital so far and are calling on residents who take a taxi to be vigilant, especially at the time of payment.

Photo: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck

Written by Linda A. Thompson