An Irish tourist has revealed how to avoid being overcharged for a taxi ride in Budapest after being “scammed” on holiday.
Kerry Mitchell, from Dublin, posted a TikTok under her name @kerryeatsduband has already been seen by more than 177,000 people.
She told viewers: ‘I got scammed last night in Budapest. This is just a public service announcement for everyone, and I already knew that, but I still did it.
“Don’t take a taxi that’s not on an app, don’t take a taxi at a stop, especially if you’re taking one of the prosecco boat tours.”
An Irish tourist has warned others planning a getaway to Budapest after a taxi scam left her bank card empty.
The tourist recalled that after the tour she and her friends were cold, drunk and hungry, wanting to get some food as soon as possible, so they chose not to walk.
She explained: “I tried to order a Bolt because they mainly use Bolt here and it arrived, but it was like a ten minute walk away so I was like, what the fuck?”
‘And there was a taxi rank there, so we went and asked if they accepted cards.
‘All did not accept cards except one. They said, ‘Oh, get in the Mercedes up there.’
“So we approach the Merceredes and it’s a man, he’s very nice, who asks us where we’re from, if Budapest is much more expensive than Dublin, if it’s cheaper, blah, blah, blah.
‘I was chatting, asking how long we’ll be here, all that stuff. I thought he was a good man, and also the ten glasses of prosecco didn’t help.”
The tourist’s Revolut bank account had been completely emptied of cash, which she later confirmed had €110; He shared a photo of her looking visibly upset after the shocking incident.
However, she was cautious and admitted that she was watching the taximeter “the whole time”, as she had previously been warned not to take taxis in Budapest, so she was “keeping an eye on it”.
Kerry said: “It shouldn’t have been more than 20 euros, actually it shouldn’t have been more than 10 euros.”
‘Anyway, so we go out, I tap my card, I don’t think about anything and then we go to eat, we go to the bar and I go buy a drink.
“I touched my card and he said, ‘Oh, you don’t have any money.’
‘So, almost a week later, this is me when I found out I had no money. He took everything that was in my Revolut account.’
The tourist’s Revolut bank account had been completely emptied of cash, which she later confirmed had €110; He shared a photo of her looking visibly upset after the shocking incident.
However, luckily, he had only transferred €110 to his Revolut account; If there had been more cash there, things could have been much worse.
She explained: ‘I had to cancel it and went on the live chat. After an hour and a half, he said, sobbing in a corner of the bar, somehow I got my money back.
‘They managed to cancel the transaction. They told me many times that they couldn’t.’
The tourist had been taking a Prosecco boat tour in Budapest, before deciding to take a taxi from the local rank.
She ended the video with a stern warning: ‘In conclusion, to be honest, don’t take taxis on the streets of Budapest or anywhere else. Use Bolt if you go to Budapest.
“Other than all this, Budapest is a 10 out of 10 and in fact I highly recommend it.”
However, this TikToker is not the only victim of taxi scams in Europe.
One viewer revealed: ‘This happened to me and my boyfriend in Budapest, he tried to charge us more than 100 euros and tried to lock us in the car.
“I already had the door open and I told him to push it and he ran after us telling us he was going to find us.”
A second wrote: ‘The same thing happened to me: €111 for a two-minute trip.’
Meanwhile, a third added: ‘No I’m not even joking, this is exactly what happened to us! I left the Prosecco cruise and went straight to a ruined bar and saw that they had charged us €90 for a taxi.
Someone chimed in: “Exactly the same thing happened to me and my boyfriend in Budapest, and again the man was very nice and chatty and then completely ripped us off.”
Commenters shared their experiences with destinations other than Budapest, including Prague, Athens, Amsterdam and Rome.
One viewer wrote: ‘Prague taxi drivers are the absolute worst I’ve ever had. It is a very easy city to get around by tram, but late at night you have no choice but to use taxis.
Others added: “It happened to us in Athens” and “Yes, beware of overly friendly and talkative guys, especially in Rome.”
The warning comes after a seasoned travel blogger was charged six times the usual fare for a taxi ride from Paris Charles De Gaulle (CDG) airport to the city centre.
Melissa Hie, known online as girleatworld.net, recently blogged about an “intimidating” situation in which she encountered a fake Parisian taxi driver who asked her for €360 (£312/$387) for a ride.
After refusing to pay the obscene amount, she said the driver became “aggressive” and followed her to her hotel; he only backed down when she paid him 80 euros (£69/$85).