Digital creator Anisha Dixit shares shocking Ola driver scam; netizens say they were scammed by him too

In an interview with indianexpress.com, Ansiha Dixit shares her experience when she posted the reel of the driver in distress, claiming he is contemplating unaliving himself due to personal hardships. She recounts how she, residing in Bandra, Mumbai, hailed a cab only to find the driver in tears, claiming his father had recently passed away and his wallet was stolen.

Can you walk us through the experience you shared in the video regarding the Ola cab scam?

The experience was quite traumatic to be honest. I never thought I would ever experience something like this in an Ola Cab, which claims to be safe for people. The Moment I sat in the cab this driver started crying and telling me his father just passed away.I didn’t know the driver but I was immediately shocked and was empathizing with him at first. He shared a more shocking incident that happened to him: his wallet got stolen just now and he can’t go back to his village for his fathers funeral because he has no money left. I was feeling even more worried.

Dixit explained the sight in her front of her was and how harrowing it was. She  thought this was it but then he started screaming that he was going to unalive himself. “I was extremely shocked as he was taking pills in front of me and beating his chest and continuing to say that he was going to commit suicide mid drive. I wasn’t feeling safe for either him or myself. I tried to calm him down and at the same time also noticed that the driver was observing me in the back mirror constantly,” she expressed.

She noticed that even though he was making a lot of crying sounds, there weren’t any tears in his eyes or on his face. She pondered maybe this was just an elaborate scam to get money out of her. “In a moment like this when a stranger threatens to commit suicide while holding your life in his hands, it can go either way and can be very dangerous too. I started recording some of what he was saying on Video which I then later decided to post online, just so I have evidence that this actually really happened,” adds Anisha.

Feeling uneasy, Anisha noticed the driver frequently checking her through the rearview mirror, leading her to suspect ulterior motives. Sensing something amiss, she decided to halt the journey and inform her husband, seeking a collective solution to the situation. When she looks back at this incident, the whole experience she says is a ‘big red flag,’ from start to finish but at the time when she sat in the cab, she observed that he was also wearing a mask throughout. She thought it was because he might be sick was trying to protect the passenger but she later realised it was just to cover his face so she is unable to recognize him.

“Another red flag was all these different techniques he used to make me feel very emotional and empathise with him: The uncontrollable crying, these life changing incidences that happened to him all at the same time, him watching and observing me in the back mirror and of course his repeated threat to commit suicide if he doesn’t get money to go back to his village now,” Dixit added.

Watch the video below:

Have you heard from Ola or any authorities regarding your report of the incident?

On that day when I posted the video online and many people told me this is a scam, first I tried to complain about this driver multiple times on the app but every time I tried to complain the only response I got from the app was that they are sorry this happened to me and sadly they cannot refund my money. I was upset because I felt when something so extreme just happened there should be an easier way to complain about the driver or report him ASAP. But on the app it seems quite complicated to even figure out how to even reach out to customer support and strangely, all the app cared about was informing me that I would not be refunded any moment. Sadly, like most citizens in India, I was left with no help from Ola through the app.

Soon after posting her video which went viral and reached around five to six million views in the 1st day itself, many creators and her celebrity friends started commenting that this was the same driver that scammed them and that they actually gave him big amounts of money! Seeing the massive response online, a representative from Ola contacted Anisha the day after she had shared her concerns on Instagram.

“During our conversation, I expressed my shock and dissatisfaction with the experience, particularly regarding the difficulty in reaching Ola’s customer service and feeling unsafe as a solo female traveler. I emphasized the need for improvements in their app to facilitate efficient reporting of drivers and prompt action by Ola. I also voiced my fear for my safety, given that the driver now had my personal information,” divulged Anisha.

She added, “However, the Ola representative seemed dismissive of my concerns, reassuring me without taking any concrete action or responsibility. When I suggested filing a police report, they simply advised me to do so if I felt threatened. This lack of accountability from such a large corporation was disappointing and concerning.”

The moment she was about to place the call, the driver had already driven off with his car. She asked people online in the video if it was genuine or a scam. “I was not sure if I should Post this Online, but i thought this might be a NEW SCAM going around. It really made me feel uncomfortable and if this really is a SCAM to get a big amount of money out of Passengers then its Very Important that I share this and make people aware about this new scam. Please let me know if this has happened to anybody else. @olacabs please look into this matter,” read her post.

Netziens and other digital creators shared it surely was a scam. Digital creator Radhika Bangia commented, “I gave 8k to this guy!!! 😢 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.. NOOOO. Another user said, “He was cross checking ki aap complaint to nhi karogi. It was clearly a scam. You made the right decision gaadi se utar ke. It was really threatening as well as unsafe.” Anjali Sivaraman, another digital creator wrote, “OH MY GOD I WENT IN A CAB WITH THIS EXACT GUY.” A third added, “Reading the comments, I think you/all should report the guy to the cab service so that no one gets scammed in future.”

She concluded, “A day later another Ola representative called me, she assured me that this driver has been fired finally. I asked her if they are planning to take any steps to improve the safety within ola and that this is devastating and that it is so difficult to get in touch with their customer support and report a Driver like this. All I was left with was an answer that she will take this feedback. And that was it. The concerning part was that it didn’t just happen to me, it happened to so many people and in some cases it was even the exact same driver!”