A woman in Hyderabad says she was left suspicious after a man approached her near Charminar on Saturday night claiming to be a Rapido driver and offering her a ride. She became wary when he could not show a driver ID and she noticed that the scooter he was riding had no number plate.
What followed was a tense exchange, with the woman repeatedly asking him to verify his identity before eventually telling him to leave. The incident was shared online by content creator Siddeshwari Sugandh, who said the man's confidence in approaching her without a booking or verification was what concerned her most.
Woman questions man claiming to be Rapido driver
Siddeshwari said she was waiting for her auto near Charminar at around 9pm when the man approached her on a scooter and asked, "Where are you going? Should I drop you?"
In the Instagram video, he can also be heard asking, "Aapko Rapido chahiye kya madam? (Do you need a Rapido, ma'am?)."
Siddeshwari immediately asked him to show his driver ID. She also noticed that the scooter did not have a vehicle number displayed.
"I noticed that there was no vehicle number displayed, so I asked him, 'Why don't you have a vehicle number?'" she wrote in her caption.
The man identified himself as Irfan but did not show her Rapido credentials. Instead, he began downloading the Rapido app from the Play Store.
"That's when I realised something was clearly not right," Siddeshwari said.
She continued pressing him for his ID. During the exchange, he told her, "Gaadi chalu nahi ho rahi hai" (The vehicle is not starting). That only raised another question for Siddeshwari. If the scooter was not working, she asked, why was he offering to take her somewhere?
When she took the phone from him, the screen was showing the page asking for an OTP. She then asked him to give his full name. His response did not satisfy her, and she eventually told him to leave.
"Seedha nikal ab yahan se (Get lost from here)," she can be heard saying in the video.
Why Siddeshwari shared the incident
According to Siddeshwari, the most unsettling part was the ease with which the man approached her at night and offered her a ride despite there being no booking or verification.
"What honestly shocked me was the confidence with which he approached a woman at 9pm and offered her a ride without any prior booking or verification," she wrote.
She also made it clear that her post was not intended as criticism of Rapido. Siddeshwari said she regularly uses the platform and prefers taking Rapido at night because she feels safer with its safety checks and post-ride calls.
"I'm sharing this because this person used the Rapido name to gain my trust, even though he wasn't actually a Rapido driver," she said.
Watch the video here:
Rapido responds to the incident
Rapido responded to Siddeshwari's post and thanked her for bringing the incident to its attention. The company said passengers can check the captain and ride details directly through the app.
It also pointed to the OTP shared at the beginning of a ride, saying the process helps ensure that passengers are travelling with the correct captain and vehicle.
Rapido urged users to check these details before getting into a vehicle, particularly if someone approaches them claiming to be a driver despite there being no booking.
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