GOJEK driver scam: Completing trips without picking up passengers

Some days, we really miss Uber.

In a Facebook post on January 20, user Naomi Ho Is Wei related an incident during her friend’s experience with GOJEK, a ride-hailing service similar to Grab and Uber.

According to her post, her friend had allegedly successfully booked a ride with driver Yeoh Chee Chuan driving a Honda Vezel Hybrid with plate number SLM7427X, but that the ride was completed without the said drover ever picking her up. What’s worse, the pre-approved charge to her card that she uses with app went through, meaning she paid for the ride that never happened.

Take a look at her Facebook post below:

She then warned people who were planning to travel this coming Chinese New Year using GOJEK.

Her friend also said that she had been trying to reach GOJEK for assistance in this matter for nine minutes but no one had responded to her call.

The ride occurred on January 19 at approximately 7:00 in the evening. Her post has been shared more than 1000 times.

As for the GOJEK Facebook page, all it says now is “Coming Soon.”

Not the only time it’s happened

A comment on the Facebook post showed that other people have encountered the same driver by the name of Yeoh Chee Chuan, but it was not indicated whether he had pulled the same stunt.

It’s important to note in the photo below, though, that he completed a 16 km trip in almost 5 minutes.

Here is another alleged incident with the same driver and the same modus. The commenter also said that they contacted GOJEK but have yet to receive a reply on the matter.

So far, that’s three incidents with the same driver Yeoh Chee Chuan.

A netizen has also posted that the GOJEK app doesn’t allow users to remove the credit or debit card they’ve put up for payment.

This means that if the same incident happened to you and you want to continue using the app but with only cash payment terms, you would be unable to do so until they fix this feature.

What do netizens have to say about this?

Since ride-hailing services are really convenient (if done properly), Singaporeans have a lot of opinions about how this went down. Take a look at some of their comments:

Some people have also said that they had a similar experience, but did not say who the driver was. If a different driver does this, is this a new modus operandi?

Others are saying that taking good old taxis are cheaper than these ride hailing apps.

Some people then commented that this is a common practice to prevent riders from cancelling. Since they are “on trip,” the rider has to wait for the driver to arrive. But in this case, the driver did not just put the rider “on trip,” they also immediately completed the trip and charged the fare.

Some commenters mentioned measures that Grab, a similar and more popular ride-hailing app, had put in place to deter drivers from doing this. The commenter still said that some riders are also to blame because they cancel the ride as the driver approaches them.

Others have not supported these apps from the start, especially without the right regulations in place.

While someone pointed out that the bad habits of taxis such as choosing passengers and other practices gave way to technology-based transport solutions.

While others pointed out that it’s better to pay cash so the driver is forced to pick you up and perform the service.

What do you think of this incident? Let us know in the comments!