The "official airport driver" with a card machine

At airports and tourist spots, fake "Uber/Bolt drivers" approach arriving passengers directly: "I'm your driver — official airport pickup." After the trip a card machine appears — and single short trips have been charged at many times the real fare on that doorstep machine.

The real system never works this way: e-hailing drivers are matched in the app, and payment happens only through the app (or as app-declared cash). Real drivers carry no card machines. A related trap: drivers on bought or shared profiles, where the person driving isn't the person on the app.

What to do: book only in the app, and before getting in, match the number plate, car model and driver photo to what the app shows. Never pay an app-booked ride with a card machine — if one appears, the "driver" isn't one.