Three-person group ran taxi for 3 hours 40 minutes and skipped paying 430,000 won fare

Taxi Driver Who Drove 3 Hours 40 Minutes from Suncheon to Ansan
"I Sent the Fare" Lie Then Fled
Taxi Driver: "They're About My Child's Age... Can't Believe It"

Late at night, a 'meoktwi' incident occurred where young people who used a taxi fled without paying tens of thousands of won in fare.

On the 9th, Yonhap News reported that a taxi driver in his 50s, Mr. A, was a victim of 'meoktwi' by three young male passengers on the 7th. Mr. A drove the passengers from Suncheon-si, Jeollanam-do to Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, covering 320 km from 1:30 a.m. to 5:10 a.m. That means he drove for a full 3 hours and 40 minutes. The taxi fare, including highway tolls, amounted to 430,000 won.

Young men who 'dined and dashed' on taxi fare. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Upon arriving at the destination, a friend of the passengers who was waiting in advance asked Mr. A for his bank account number and falsely claimed that the taxi fare had been sent. Just as Mr. A was about to check the deposit details on his mobile phone, the young men quickly fled.

Mr. A immediately reported the incident to the police. The police who responded collected fingerprints and DNA from the back seat of the taxi where the young men had sat and also secured footage from the vehicle’s black box. The black box footage clearly captured the faces, physiques, and clothing of the three young men sitting in the back. In particular, since the young men used Kakao Taxi and left their phone numbers, it is expected that the police will have little difficulty apprehending them.

Mr. A said, "It was absurd and unbelievable that something I had only seen on TV actually happened to me," adding, "I am relieved that nothing worse happened. They are around the age of my children, so it is unpleasant that they had such bad intentions, and I hope others do not suffer the same damage." He continued, "The young men spoke in standard Korean without any dialect, so it seems they live in the Ansan area," and added, "I hope this incident serves as a lesson for them to stop doing bad things and live honestly."

Fare evasion in taxis is punishable by a fine of up to 100,000 won under the Minor Offenses Act. However, if it is proven that the fare evasion was intentional from the start, fraud charges can be applied. If convicted of fraud, the penalty can be imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 20 million won.