There seems to be a new scam amongst some Manila taxi drivers, and Down Under Visa would like our clients and prospective clients to be aware of it.
We had a prospective client yesterday arrive in Manila from one of the other islands. She gets in the taxi and shows the driver our office address in Alabang (Muntinlupa). And off they go. All sounded fine.
The problem was that the driver took them somewhere else!
I knew about this when the prospective client’s Australian fiancé asked me for a summary of what happened at our appointment. Of course I didn’t know anything about it. Utter confusion reigned, because the lady believed she had been talking with my wife Mila. I knew this wasn’t the case, as Mila was with me in the home-office all day! And Jeremy (our office manager) knew nothing about it.
I asked him to get a description of the office and of “my wife”. None matched, plus there was a Filipino man in the office and no Australians at all. We are a very Aussie-friendly office. You will either speak to me or my son Jeremy, and we’re 100% Australian. You will never be stuck with someone who can’t understand your Aussie accent (and may very well ignore you).
They also said that “our office” as in a fairly creepy building where they didn’t feel safe. Whereas our office is in a very nice and very safe office building in Alabang.
Clearly the taxi driver had some mates that he used for scamming. He would have texted them and said “Remember you are Down Under Visa!”, and they would have played along. I suspect they could have been anything at all, and were obviously hoping that the lady had a large wad of cash to part with. Fortunately she didn’t, so all that was lost was some time and some wasted plane tickets. It could have been a lot worse!
How to avoid this?
Firstly, if you would like to become our client AND you would like to meet us, then make an appointment! Don’t just turn up in Manila.
Secondly, don’t use any old street taxi! Either get one of the airport guards to organise a car for you, or use a hotel service car.
Remember that it could be much worse that merely being scammed!
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It is also important to remember especially in Manila even getting a taxi from a good quality hotel be sure the taxi puts the meter on as often a few taxi drivers are teamed up with either guards or hotel staff to scam you. I’ve encountered numerous times even my Filipina partner they try scam when she would leave the hotel on her own.