Riga Taxi scam - €25 costed £600 paid

doffcocker

Hi.
This week I returned from a weekend break in Riga and notice a £600 charge on my Nationwide current account statement.
I called Nationwide and they say it appears to be for a taxi, paid contact less using Google Pay app. 
This is all accurate in that I took a late night taxi from one side of Riga old town to the other which brought the meter to a charge of €25 and I paid, using contactless phone app.
For the record, I've basically never made a payment as much as £600 in my life, the transaction just by the sheer amount alone jumps out as wildly unusual even without knowing my personal spending habits so I'm surprised this wasn't queried by Nationwide straight away.
Anyway they have paid the funds back to me in full but it sounds like they have to do further investigation and I could still ultimately be liable.

I'm really concerned about this, it's not so much the affordability aspect of paying the money back but the sheer devastation that I've potentially been cheated.

Does this kind of thing happen a lot?

Hoenir

doffcocker said:

Does this kind of thing happen a lot?

No shortage of unscrupulous people in this world. 

Tucosalamanca

doffcocker said:

Does this kind of thing happen a lot?

Yes, you only need to Google 'Riga tourist scams' or look at Trip Advisor.

Taxis, karaoke bars, nightclubs etc etc

PHK

If you look on the Financial Ombudsman decisions website, you’ll find plenty of people who had unexplained charges when on a night out abroad. 

Whether it’s taxis, bars or escorts. 

mr_stripey

It's a tale as old as time (almost!). Taxi scams are common everywhere, and payment by card or phone makes it easier for the driver to input an inflated amount which you tap and pay and don't realise until later. Even if you realise two minutes later it's already too late. 

These days I think the common wisdom is to stick to Bolt/Uber etc in these places as the payments are handled by the app so not so easy for the driver to scam you.

Albermarle

mr_stripey said:

It's a tale as old as time (almost!). Taxi scams are common everywhere, and payment by card or phone makes it easier for the driver to input an inflated amount which you tap and pay and don't realise until later. Even if you realise two minutes later it's already too late. 

These days I think the common wisdom is to stick to Bolt/Uber etc in these places as the payments are handled by the app so not so easy for the driver to scam you.

Or pay cash.

doffcocker

Thanks for your replies. 

What I find odd is I visited Romania earlier in the year and nearly every transaction I paid for using contactless, Nationwide had me verifying it was me, even minor amounts.

It just seems odd that I was able to hand over an amount like this as easily as I was.

km1500

can you request a chargeback it is clearly an unauthorised amount

doffcocker

km1500 said:

can you request a chargeback it is clearly an unauthorised amount

The bank processed a full refund almost instantly but refuse to deny it is impossible for me not to be required to pay back in time.

In their words the case is closed/resolved on the system but that also the transaction would be investigated and the merchant (not sure exactly who that would be in this case) could claim the money back if they were somehow able to demonstrate the money was taken legally.

I'm quite confident that if it came down to it I myself could demonstrate it was impossible for me to rack up a taxi fare of £600 at the time stated. As it happens we got completely lost and took 3 subsequent taxis in the space of about an hour trying to get back to our accomodation, including Bolts for which I obviously have records, but not sure exactly what kind of evidence would be worth anything in an investigation like this.