NEW YORK CITY CAB SCAM
March 2, 2010 by Gerry Dorsey
NEW YORK, NY – One taxi driver turned the Big Apple into the Rotten Apple!
Wasim Khalid Cheema, a Pakistani-origin can driver, pulled a fast one on New Yorkers. By tampering with his fare meter, he pocketed an extra $40,000 over six months. Officials have described his actions as the biggest rip-off in New York’s cab history.
In July of last year, the scam earned him $11,499 for that month alone. The driver who shared his cab made only $4,803. Over a period of six months dating back to that July, Cheema went on to pull in $40,000 more than other taxi drivers by his malicious practices.
Cheema overcharged as many as 574 passengers in July 2009, transporting them in the city’s Nassau and Westchester boroughs. He accomplished his scam by setting the fare meter at rate code 4 meant for suburban areas, instead of code 1 meant for the in-city rates. The suburban rate is double the in-city rates, allowing for Cheema to make more than double what other cabbies made during the same time.
Cheema’s hack license has been revoked and he has been fined $500.
