Today we almost fell victim to scammers in Istanbul.
At the Galata Bridge, we got into a “yellow” taxi. Bargained for 60 lira (~1400 rubles). More accurately, we haggled with one driver but ended up with another. The taxi driver asked for the money upfront, because “his boss was there, and he wanted to go straight home after,” referring to the first driver. An absurd requirement, but okay, we were already in the car. I hesitated a bit but decided to agree, to hell with it.
I handed over two bills – 50 and 10. At first, I was a bit slow and almost gave 5 and 10, the taxi driver corrected me – saying, this is 5, not 50. He took the 50, then immediately gives it back – says, the bill is torn, give me another one. The 10 is in his hands, he hands back the 50 to me, I extend another 50 to him, he returns a 5 instead saying “you gave me 5, not 50.” That’s when I checked my wallet – it can’t be, I had two fifties, now there’s one. The taxi driver insisted he was right. I realized it was a scam.
I got out of the car, trying to keep the door open and my foot inside, dialed 911. I realized I couldn’t read the number this way – went to check the license plate – the taxi driver sped off. Remembered the number, reported the situation to 911. The first guy came running back – says he caught the taxi driver on the other side, apologizes. Returns my “fifty”. Like, everything’s okay, don’t worry. Had to hang up and go call an Uber.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 