Actors, influencers scammed by same Ola driver in Mumbai

Screengrab from video Instagrammed by @anishadixit

Ola has reportedly taken action against a Mumbai-based cab driver accused of scamming customers after a video posted by content creator Anisha Dixit went viral. On February 26, Dixit shared an Instagram video of the Ola cab driver threatening suicide over financial issues. She was heard trying to comfort the driver as he cried loudly.

In her clip, Dixit explained that the cab driver started crying as soon as she sat inside his car. The content creator, a resident of Bandra in Mumbai, said that he claimed his father had died in the village and his wallet had been stolen, so he had no money to travel back home.

Dixit said she felt uncomfortable in the situation. She also saw the driver constantly observing her through the rear-view mirrors. Dixit asked the driver to park on the side for a few minutes so she could call her husband. As soon as she exited the car, the driver fled.

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A post shared by Anisha Dixit (@anishadixit)

“I gave 8k to this guy,” claimed actor Radhika Bangia. “I recognise his voice! He wasn’t loud or anything. He was very subtly crying to himself when I asked him if he’s okay..he told me his son has an operation the next day and he’s been driving for 2 days straight to collect the money! He’s a good actor! I got SCAMMED,” she elaborated.

Actor Anjali Sivaraman also claimed to have been scammed by the same driver. She said she reported the issue to Ola but did not receive a response.

“Oh my God I went in a cab with this exact guy,” Sivaraman wrote. “This is 100% a scam. God I’m so angry now. My gut said it’s a scam and I even reported it to Ola cabs but got no response,” she added.

“Scam. I found the same rickshaw guy twice telling the same story,” wrote content creators Abhi & Niyu in the comments section.

Several other influencer living in the Bandra-Juu area claimed to have been scammed by the same driver.

In an update shared a day later, Dixit said that the cab driver had been defrauding customers since 2021. Ola apparently received several complaints against him but did not act on any of them until Dixit’s video went viral.

She said that she received a call from Ola informing her that the driver was no longer associated with the company. However, Dixit flagged the issue of similar scams taking place across India as she slammed Ola for the time it took the cab aggregator to act of complaints.