A woman traveling through John F. Kennedy International Airport is warning others not to trust just anybody in the pickup area. She claims she was “kidnapped” after one fake taxi driver snatched her bags and loaded them into his car.
TikToker Alexis Eleanor (@alexiseleanor1) lies in bed after her two-week trip to Thailand, recounting the scary experience in which the fake taxi allegedly scammed her out of hundreds of dollars.
She says the man approached her outside of the arrivals gate and grabbed her bags, walking her toward a parking garage. Eleanor admits she had heard about fake taxi scams before and asked him if he is a Yellow Cab, the approved taxi service at JFK.
In a follow-up video, she notes that no one attempted to help her when the man grabbed her bags, leading her to make the decision to get in the car. She feared that the man would take her bags with her haul from Thailand.
“I’ve been here before. I know there’s fake taxis,” she says in the clip with over 145,000 views. “He was like, ‘Yellow Cabs can’t come to JFK anymore.'” Eleanor says she thought his excuse was fishy, but he quickly loaded the bags into his car before she could question it.
When she got in the car, she says the man told her that the ride would be around $300. She says she texted her sister that she had a bad feeling about the driver.
Was Her Gut Feeling Right?
As they drive into the city, she says he continued to raise the estimated price of the ride by hundreds of dollars. Eventually, she says he pulled over and told her to get cash out of a nearby ATM.
“‘What kind of company can’t take card?'” she recalls asking him. She also says she noticed that he put on the child locks so that she couldn’t escape from the vehicle. That’s when she realized she needed to call for help.
Eleanor says she texted her sister to call the cops and have them meet her at the destination.
“The moment he stops, I start angry screaming, crying, which is why all my lashes are stuck together,” she says. “I finally see this f—— crowd of cops.”
She shares that the cops had to remove the man from the car. The cops initially let her know that she needed to come to the police station with them to file a report.
However, before they left, she says the cops changed their mind and let the man go.
“They have him approach me with my s— still in his f—— car,” she exclaims. The cops tell her that she still needs to pay the driver, despite the fact that he’s an alleged illegal taxi driver.
“Apparently this ride was worth $238 to the cops. One cop was trying to tell the other cop that this was fake. That [the driver was using] a fake Uber app,” she continues.
At the end of the clip, she urges other travelers to double-check that they’re getting in a legitimate taxi when arriving in New York City.
Have Fake Taxis Scammed Other Passengers?
In the comments of Eleanor’s video, some viewers related heavily to her scary experience.
“This happened to me outside of penn station and I ran so fast with my bags he was so sus,” one shared.
Another commented, “Happened to me recently , I came off jet blue , I live 20 mins I usually pay 25 dollars to my place , he had me sit in front seat because he also got 2 ladies in the back seat so I felt it was ok.”
However, some commenters criticized Eleanor for going with the man when he grabbed her bags, suggesting that she shouldn’t put her safety at risk for material items.
“You lost me I followed him to the parking garage, he wouldn’t have gotten my stuff out of the airport,” a viewer remarked.
“Yikes, babes you gotta stand up for yourself,” a second wrote.
In another follow-up video, Eleanor responds to the backlash, saying it comes across as “victim-blaming.”
“People are treating me like I’m worse than the scammer,” she remarks. “If scammers and low lives did not exist or try to take advantage of single women getting off of planes, this would not have happened.”
How To Avoid Fake Taxis At JFK—And Get A Real One
There are signs posted around JFK’s arrivals terminal warning travelers to only use Yellow Cab or reputable ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft to get to their next destinations.
JFK issued this “safety tip” on its site: “Ignore offers of transportation from solicitors in the terminal. Soliciting of ground transportation is illegal and many illegal solicitors are unlicensed and uninsured.”
To properly get a taxi at JFK, “head directly for the taxi stand located outside each terminal.”
“Ignore non-uniformed people offering to assist with baggage. Seek out uniformed porters or airline employees for baggage assistance,” the airport warns.
JFK directs travelers with any concerns or questions to the Port Authority Welcome Center. Each terminal contains one in its arrivals area.
And beyond the airport’s advice, there are a few best practices to make sure you’re not getting scammed.
Frequent travelers share the best ways to avoid fake taxis at the airport on the r/visitingNYC subreddit.
Many suggest confirming the flat-rate fare for the ride so that drivers can’t hike up the price last minute. Some say that riders can ask for a receipt at the official Yellow Cab stand to confirm the rate, too.
But some say that even official drivers can try sketchy ways to get more money out of passengers.
“Uber driver once informed me he’s going to take a quicker route through Belt rather than Van Wyck because of construction (didn’t save me any time),” one said. “$60 became $120 bill from Uber for extra distance gone.”
“Every time I have taken a cab from JFK recently (from the official stand), they have tried to scam me. No ID displayed, no meter running, trying to take payment on their phone, etc. I’ve told them I know it’s a flat fare every time,” another shared.
@alexiseleanor1 Just got kidnapped by an illegal taxi outside of JFK Airport at NYC. Please be careful guys #nyc #nypd #kidnapped #traumatized #rip
BroBible reached out to Eleanor via email and Instagram direct message and to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), which oversees JFK, via email for further comment. We will update the story when they respond.