Imagine enjoying your trip overseas only to be almost kidnapped when you’re just about the leave the country.
That’s the unfortunate situation a Malaysian and his group of friends endured in Thailand.
Netizen, Andrew Tong, took to his Facebook page to share how his e-hailing driver almost managed to kidnap him and his group while they were on their way to the airport in Bangkok, Thailand.
He wrote, “Dangerous experience of an e-hailing ride in Bangkok. We were almost sold off. Everyone needs to be vigilant.”
His group, consisting of 2 men (including himself) and 3 women, had called for an e-hailing ride to the airport while in Bangkok.
“The driver arrived at 7pm. After getting in the car, the other guy was more vigilant. When we got into the car, we found something wrong with the driver. The car windows were all blacked out and as soon as we got into the car, the driver started sneaking on his phone and asked us where we came from.”
“We didn’t think too much about it and told the driver, ‘from Malaysia’. At that time, the other guy asked me to listen to the conversation between the driver and the other party that was on the phone. I can understand Thai,” he explained.
Upon listening, he understood that the driver was informing someone of how many people were in the car, what gender they were and so forth.
“Normal driver will not describe and explain such things in detail. Normal driver will make phone calls but to their wives and family members.”
Andrew then started translating to the conversation to his friend and the driver noticed this.
“I heard him telling the other party that there was someone here who could understand Thai and translated it very clearly. He completely knew every move we were making and reporting it to the other party on the phone,” he added.
Feeling creeped out and wary of the situation, they then decided to use the GPS on their phone to check how far they were from the airport and it didn’t tally with the GPS on the driver’s phone.
“At that time, we pulled out Waze for the sake of safety. We saw that the time to go to the airport was 30 minutes but the driver’s Google Maps showed 50 minutes. When we pulled out our GPS, the driver also immediately reported it to the other party about it.”
“We asked to get out of the car and that we wanted to use the toilet, we happened to be stuck in traffic at the Siam Center. We asked to get out at the mall and here comes a key point, the driver’s tone and face immediately started to darken and he tried his best to say no,” Andrew shared.
The driver allegedly explained that the police did not allow people to park where they were and they would be arrested. He then offered to take the group to a petrol station that was 5 minutes away.
The driver then once again reported the situation to whoever was on the phone with him and that he suspected the group was attempting to run. And run, they did!
“We felt that there must be something wrong here. We didn’t think about it much and opened the door at the main road, got out and grabbed our luggage quickly (we were in a pick-up truck, so grabbing the luggage was quickly. We managed to take it without having to wait for him to unlock the back).”
“The driver didn’t have time to react when we got out of the car. He probably didn’t expect that we would get out directly on the main road. He didn’t ask us anything and he didn’t chase after us to collect money from us (it is impossible for a normal driver to drive you for free and not charge for the journey),” he said.
Andrew ultimately felt thankful that he and his friends realised what was happening earlier on as the driver had apparently picked up more than 600 people before them, based on the driver’s profile on the e-hailing app.
He also warns other to remain vigilant and to be careful while traveling as many may not have the same luck he and his friends did.
Had a similar experience before? Do feel free to share in the comment section.
Also read: Motorcyclists Caught on Camera Holding Onto Shopping Cart Full of Groceries While Riding in Subang
