A network of Pakistani and Indian taxi driver scammers on student visas are ripping off customers in Perth on a grand scale, and forcing honest operators out of the industry.
The dodgy drivers are coached on working in the industry and obtaining a driver’s licence before getting their visas, and then apply online for passenger transport driver authorisation and sign up to work for “on-demand booking service” taxi companies.
On arrival in Australia they “hot bed” in overcrowded suburban homes, are given cars for $425 a week, and are taught to scam customers by pretending EFTPOS machines or meters are broken, an investigation by The West Australian found.
They are also coached on how to inflate fares on regular jobs by activating more expensive meter settings that are only supposed to be for late-night pickups and special trips.
The booking services help students find off-meter and cash fares via a network of dozens of WhatsApp groups with hundreds of members each, and take a 10% commission each time. Drivers also use the groups to warn each other about government inspectors and compliance operations.
A whistle-blower said another trick involved drivers colluding to rip off customers twice, so that if a passenger was overcharged on an inbound trip they would be slugged the same amount on the way back, which also enabled the drivers to avoid paying a commission.
As a result, passengers end up paying up to three times more than the fares charged by the major taxi companies, hurting legitimate cabbies.
Veteran taxi driver Jonathan Masih said the industry was being brought to its knees by the foreign scammers, creating a “dire” financial situation.
“We cannot earn enough to support ourselves or our families caused by unlimited oversupply of vehicles, and an estimated 60 to 70% of drivers being international students working unrestricted hours,” he said.
“Rule-breakers and unregulated operators have taken over, making life in this country unbearable for compliant drivers.
“If authorities did their job and stopped these practices, honest drivers could earn a fair, respectable income again.”
Another cabbie told 10 News: “This is the wild west, these are cowboys, not taxi drivers.”
Student visa holders are allowed to work 48 hours a fortnight, but many work up to 90 and send their income back to their home countries in remittances, which are at record high levels.
They also avoid rules on working more than 14 hours in a shift by going off-meter, and many do not bother turning up to their courses, often resulting in enrolment cancellation.
But many drivers whose enrolments are cancelled remain in Australia instead of leaving within 30 days as required, and government sources said the Australian Border Force was not focused on looking for visa over-stayers.
The Department of Transport said it did not have the authority to investigate the visa status of passenger transport drivers.
Similar taxi scams in NSW and Victoria have resulted in recent crackdowns in both states, and resulted in a dodgy Indian-owned company being banned from Sydney Airport.
Last year Australia saw a surge in “phantom” international students – those who enrol in order to gain work rights and entry into the country before dropping out of their degrees or failing to show up at all.
Griffith University in Brisbane, for example, reported one in four foreign students dropping out, and said “retention rates for international cohorts from countries like Kenya, Pakistan and parts of India have been lower than our targets”.
Header image: Left, right a taxi compliance operation at Perth airport last month (10News).
