"Black" Taxis Use Identity Fraud to Swoop on Hailing App Fares
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Unlicensed taxi drivers are snatching up fares through taxi hailing apps, the Beijing News reported on April 28, 2015.

The newspaper suggests that this is happening nation-wide.

The lack of regulation and supervision has left many loopholes for unlicensed drivers to register accounts on approved taxi-hailing mobile apps as licensed drivers.

Customers are complaining that unlicensed drivers hiked up their prices and threatened patrons that reported the offending drivers.

An Emerging Situation

The Beijing-based newspaper conducted a survey from mid-March to the end of April in the suburbs of Beijing to get a sense of how many people inadvertently hail unlicensed taxis by using cab-hailing apps.

The survey found almost half of the calls responded to by so-called "black taxis", or unlicensed taxis.

The chances of getting picked up by a black taxi at night were much higher than in the daytime, the survey found.

Customers have been complaining that black taxis were charging more money than legal taxi drivers.

A reporter with the newspaper hailed a cab through the popular taxi hailing app Didi Dache. However, the driver that showed up was a different person than the one on record with the app, and the registered plate number didn't match the one on the car that answered the call.

The driver charged the reporter 15 yuan for 4.8 kilometres, but according to the local taxi-fare system, eight yuan would cover the initial three kilometres. Two more yuan will be charged for each additional kilometer. Under the system, the fare should be 12 yuan at most.

A driver, who was not registered under a taxi company, said he could earn 200 more yuan per day after installing the taxi apps on his phone, doubles his pervious earnings.

Loopholes Lead to Disarray

Industry insiders told the Beijing News that some drivers registered accounts by using the information of their friends or relatives who worked in taxi companies, while others use forged information to obtain legal accounts. Some taxi drivers, who owned one account but didn't use it, would sell the account to other drivers.

A representative from Didi Dache has dismissed the "abduction" of taxi hailing apps by black taxis, saying that five certificates are needed to apply for an account, including the driver's ID card, driving license, and a legal permit to engage in transportation business.

But in actuality, the process to register as a legitimate driver on the app is easier than that; a person only needs to upload the photos of his or her ID card and driver's license to an official online chat account for verification, according to Didi Dache customer service representative.

A face-to-face verification is not a must.

A licensed taxi driver in Beijing, identified only as Zhao, said he was reported by a customer for driving dangerously. However, Zhao said he was taking a day off on the date in complaint. The company's GPS data verified Zhao's words.

"The only explanation is that someone had stolen my information," said Zhao.

Meanwhile, the database of the drivers registered in the system had not updated in a timely fashion. The database is also not connected to the one run by public security authorities.

This makes it hard for taxi hailing apps to verify its applicants. Didi Dache is asking for cooperation from relevant authorities.

Another worrying issue is the inactivity of law enforcement to address threats made by unlicensed drivers to customers reporting on their illicit activities. Some customers have reported physical threats after filing complaints to the taxi hailing app developers. Last November, a student in the coastal city of Yantai, Shandong province, received more than 20 threatening calls from an unlicensed driver after reporting a black taxi driver to the management of Didi Dache.

A traffic cop in Beijing said a passenger can call the police once he or she is in a "tricky" situation with an unlicensed driver, but the law is difficult to apply if no violence or theft takes place.

Collecting evidence for the crime of illegally using hailing apps is difficult, said the traffic cop.

For the moment, China severely lacks laws and regulations regarding crime involving new technology.

Author： 　　　Source：CRI　　　 Editor：Yang Fan