Late-night rides should be the least of our worries with apps promising safe rides, verified drivers, and live tracking. But for Nikita Malik, who recently booked an Ola cab from Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, the experience turned into a nightmare.
Sharing her ordeal on X, she highlighted the alarming risks of unauthorized drivers posing as official cab operators, a scare that’s been circulating but rarely with such detail.
Nikita’s incident began at the designated Ola pickup spot. Around 10:30 pm, a driver who wasn’t assigned through the app approached, claiming he’d get her to her destination. After some hesitation, she entered the car, and that’s when the red flags started popping up. Instead of the usual OTP verification, this driver asked her to manually input her destination into his personal Maps app, casually mentioning an “app glitch.”
But things took a darker turn when he demanded an extra fare and then suggested that she’d need to transfer to a different car mid-ride to complete her journey. Refusing to comply, Nikita insisted they return to the airport, but the driver ignored her, stopping at a petrol station to demand ₹500 for fuel.
Sensing the danger, Nikita discreetly contacted the emergency helpline 112 and kept her family informed. Thankfully, her quick thinking paid off as the police stepped in to help. But her experience raises a pressing question: how safe are our rides really? Here are the pictures of the handwritten complaint she shared online:
Social media has erupted in support for Nikita, with many recounting similar incidents that expose the glaring security flaws in ride-hailing services. For women especially, the risks of trusting unauthorized drivers are escalating, underscoring a demand for stricter safety protocols across platforms like Ola and Uber.
It’s a stark reminder that, in the name of convenience, we might be letting our guard down more than we should.