A 20 minute airport ride in Cape Town ended with a R25,000 bill

R25,000.

That is what one tourist was billed for a ride from Cape Town International Airport to Green Point. The trip takes about 20 minutes. It normally costs under R300.

The tourist did not haggle over the price. Nobody argued about the fare at all. The driver simply typed extra digits into the card machine, and a R250 trip became R25,000 on the screen.

Another traveller was billed R10,000 for a short ride to a guesthouse near the city. The real fare for that trip is about R200. News reports this month describe a pattern of fake e-hailing drivers working the arrivals halls at Cape Town International Airport, waiting for tired tourists who have just landed.

How do touts turn a R250 ride into a R25,000 bill?

The trick is simple. A tout wearing a reflective vest, carrying a card that looks like official e-hailing driver ID, offers a lift at the airport exit.

They agree on a low price, often R350 to R500. Then they hand over a card machine and quietly key in an extra zero.

One hotel owner in Cape Town's CBD told reporters the touts quote R350 or R500, then add a zero once the card goes in. A passenger who is jet lagged, distracted, or simply trusting does not always check the screen before tapping their card.

By the time the real amount shows up, it is on a bank statement days later, far from the airport and far from any witness.

Photo: Basile Morin / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What should a ride from Cape Town airport really cost?

A normal Uber or Bolt ride from Cape Town International Airport to Green Point costs between R180 and R280, according to a 2026 fare guide for the airport. That is the exact trip one tourist was billed R25,000 for.

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Here is how the real price compares with what touts have been charging, route by route.

Source: Cape Town Airport transport guide, 2026, for the real fares. MyBroadband, Briefly and Weekend Argus/IOL, October 2026, for the tout fares.

Who is behind the fake Uber scam at the airport?

This is not a handful of chancers working alone. Reports describe a syndicate of current and former metered-taxi drivers, men who lost income when Uber and Bolt arrived in South Africa.

They now work the same arrivals halls their old meter taxis used to serve. But there is no meter, no licence and no app booking behind what they offer.

One traveller confronted a driver over the R10,000 charge. The driver reportedly became aggressive. Another, a 70 year old tourist from the UK charged about R17,690 for a short trip, was told the driver's "finger slipped" on the card machine.

This is not new either. In June 2026, a frequent flyer named Johan van Schalkwyk said he was quoted R420 by a fake driver at a South African airport, then charged R4,200, ten times the price. The pattern has only grown since.

Photo: David James / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Why hasn't Cape Town airport stopped this already?

Airports Company South Africa, known as ACSA, says touting is a criminal offence under the Civil Aviation Act. It has put up warning signs, added screen messages and placed more visible security in the terminal.

Some of those warning signs have already been torn down and thrown on the floor, according to a contractor who works at the airport and also drives for an e-hailing app on the side.

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Uber has said its trips only happen once a rider books through the app and is matched with a driver inside it. A stranger standing at the exit with a card machine is never that.

What do you do if you already paid one of these fares?

Report it to your bank straight away, not to the driver. Banks treat an inflated card payment as a disputed transaction, and most South African banks process these disputes within about 120 days of the payment date.

If the bank will not reverse the charge, the next step is the National Financial Ombud Scheme, a free service that investigates complaints against banks.

South Africans over 55 already lose billions to fraud every year, and who ends up paying when a fraud claim is disputed is not always simple to work out. In some fraud cases, banks have chosen to make a goodwill payout rather than argue the dispute in public.

Keep the SAPS case number if you open one. Keep the card slip if the machine printed one. Screenshot the bank statement the moment the charge appears, before it can be disputed by the other side.

How do you get a safe ride from Cape Town airport?

Book through the Uber or Bolt app before you leave the arrivals hall. Wait for the pickup zone the app shows you, not a stranger who approaches you first.

The airport also has an official metered taxi rank at the main arrivals exit, with marked vehicles and a staffed desk. Use that desk if you want a taxi instead of an app.

Check the driver's name, car and number plate against what the app shows you, every time. Never hand your card to someone standing in a vest you cannot verify, and never let a driver "prove" a booking by showing you their own phone screen.

A reflective vest and a laminated card are all it takes to look official at the exit doors. December is coming, the airport's busiest month of the year, and the only thing standing between the next tourist and a R25,000 bill is whether they check the screen before they tap their card.