Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, deputy chairman of Hanoi’s People Committee, says the increasing number of cases involving fleeced foreigners seriously affects the city’s efforts to promote tourism, and pledges to impose heavy punishments on cheaters.

If you search “cheating taxi Hanoi” on Google, there are thousands of results, most of which appear on expat forums in which foreigners say cabbies often deliberately travel aimlessly to increase fares, frequently do not have small change and often hope that foreign passengers will simply forego getting change, and adjust meters to get exorbitant rates.

Australian tourist Kevin, 32, told Tuoi Tre that he had read a lot of information about cheating taxis in Hanoi before traveling to Vietnam, so he was not shocked to learn that fellow countrymen were cheated by a cabbie from Trung Viet taxi firm. To avoid taxi scams, Kevin said he wrote the number of some good taxi companies in his notebook and decisively refused other taxi firms.

On April 28, two Australian tourists took a Trung Viet taxi from the Vietnam Military History Museum to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. The cabbie charged them VND980,000 (roughly US$43), 10 times higher than the normal fare. The driver has been detained for further investigation.

Many expats often show each other tips on how to deal with taxi drivers who claim they do not have change. “I will stay in the taxi until the driver procures change,” said Maria from Papua New Guinea.

Guim Valls Teruel, owner of The Hanoi Bicycle Collective, told Tuoi Tre that the foreign tourists, particularly those from Europe or America, who fall victim to taxi scams in Hanoi often let their cases pass because they do not want to be involved in a conflict with local people or do not know where they should report their cases to.

Jean - Jacques Barre of Freewheelin’s Tours said: “Vietnam is actually not the first choice of foreign visitors. So, if they come here and are cheated, they will never return for the second time.”

Meanwhile, Teruel called on local authorities to apply “tough measures” towards taxi scams. “Heavier punishments should be imposed on cheating taxis. If not, potential tourists will cancel tours to Vietnam and those who already traveled to Vietnam will never return to the country for the second time,” he said.

Cao Bich Lan, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee of Hoan Kiem District, admitted that taxi scams have a bad influence on promotional tourism campaigns to attract more international tourists to the capital.

“The cheated foreign tourists will tell their stories to their friends for sure. They may also share their bad experience on social networking sites and the bad news will quickly spread,” Lan said.

The deputy chairwoman also called on all tourism authorities to work together to deal with taxi scams. “Taxi or cyclo drivers should be educated,” she stressed.

Meanwhile Colonel Dao Thanh Hai, head of the Hanoi Police Department for Investigation of Social Order, said foreign tourist should be vigilant about potential scams, and if they fall victim they should report their case to local police.