RTE Liveline listeners hear of Dublin taxi scam that robbed man of phone and €1300

• Published date: 24 November 2022

"Matthew" (not his real name) spoke to RTE Liveline today about the ordeal, which happened over the weekend. He left a pub in Ranelagh late on Saturday night/early Sunday morning after socialising with some friends and tried to order a taxi on the apps but they kept failing or cancelling

He explained: "I got a bit frustrated and decided to walk home. On my way, a taxi beeped at me and I thought it's been a long night so I may as well hop in.

"There was a plate there so I assumed it was a taxi. As I hopped in, a girl was getting out. Looking back, it seems a bit unusual.

"Anyway, the driver proceeded to take me close to my destination and then claimed he didn't know where my address was. He asked to have a look at my phone on Google Maps and shortly after, he dropped it into the passenger side footwell. He claimed he had a bad back and couldn't get it."

Matthew said the driver asked him to get out to retrieve it. Once he was out of the taxi, the driver drove off with his phone still inside.

"That was bad enough, but unfortunately my wife was out at her work Christmas party staying in a hotel so I had no way to contact anyone to cancel the phone or contact my banks or anything," he said.

"I woke up in the morning to find that money had been taken from three of my bank accounts and passwords were changed. It was an absolute nightmare to be honest with you. About €1300 was gone."

Matthew described the incident as "an experienced scam" and said others have come forward with similar experiences. "My wife has an Instagram page with her twin sister and she posted a public service announcement the next day and about five or six men contacted them directly saying the same thing had happened to them," he said.

"There were slight variations. Some people were pickpocketed by the girl as she was leaving the cab. One fella said there was a guy in the back of the taxi cab...