Man held for conning driver of ‘black taxi’
Print Edition
A MAN has been detained for impersonating a law enforcement official in order to cheat an illegal taxi driver out of 7,000 yuan (US$1,130), police said yesterday.
The 20-year-old, surnamed Qiao, is accused of getting into a “black cab” that was touting for business in front of the Xujing Health Center on Jinghua Road in Qingpu District on November 25.
After traveling for about a kilometer, Qiao asked the driver to pull over and told him he was a member of the Qingpu traffic law enforcement team.
He then asked to see a copy of the driver’s license and told him that he was facing a heavy penalty for operating an illegal taxi. To make his act more convincing, Qiao pretended to call a fellow law enforcement official on his cellphone, police said.
Under the law, illegal cabbies can be fined up to 50,000 yuan and have their licenses suspended for between three and six months.
Fearing losing his illicit livelihood, the driver, surnamed Chen, tried to bribe Qiao with 7,000 yuan in cash, which the “official” accepted.
Although Chen had been suspicious of Qiao — as he didn’t produce any identification documents during their meeting — he was reluctant to report the incident to the authorities as he knew that he too had been breaking the law, police said.
However, on December 1, Chen spotted Qiao as he was about to get into another black cab at the same health center. His suspicions confirmed, he called the authorities.
Officers tracked Qiao down and detained him. He is alleged to have told police later that he saw the recent crackdown on illegal taxis as an easy way to make money.
Chen was also fined for providing an illegal taxi service, police said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
