KUALA LUMPUR: Maxim E-hailing Malaysia said e-hailing is one of the industries with a risk of various fraud schemes being employed by some drivers.
Maxim Malaysia director Mohd Hazwan discussed some common fraud schemes drivers may employ within the e-hailing industry and how these schemes manifest.
“One is that the driver pushes the button to complete the order but does not pick up the customer.
“This increases the number of trips, and the driver can claim their monthly allowance with Maxim.
“To note, Maxim provides monthly allowances to the driver who manages to get (some number) of orders.
“Two, the driver instructs the passenger to cancel the order and get free commissions,” he told The Exchange Asia.
When asked, Mohd Hazwan said Maxim monitors orders daily, categorising them into two sections – complete orders and cancelled orders.
“In the case of cancelled orders, a thorough investigation will be conducted to understand the reasons behind the cancellation.
“This involves reviewing order messages and listening to the communication between the driver and passenger. All relevant data is meticulously recorded,” he said.
In a statement, Maxim said the e-hailing industry is phenomenally diverse, offering various services such as transportation, delivery, trucks, and more.
These services, especially transportation, have become necessary for everyone and are open to scams by unscrupulous individuals.
With this in mind, Maxim would like to share some tips to help users avoid getting caught in such scams.
The first step is to check the booking thoroughly. After booking, Maxim recommends that the passengers double-check important aspects such as the address, driver information, vehicle information, and the displayed price.
Step two is to identify the vehicle’s location. When users book a vehicle, the company shares its track on a map in the application.
With this, the user can see the vehicle’s location and whether it is on the correct route.
Step three is to take advantage of the application’s chat feature. Users can communicate directly with their drivers through calls and messages in the application and avoid using personal messengers such as WhatsApp.
Step four, while travelling with the driver, sharing too much information, especially personal information such as where you work, your phone number, home address, or relationship status, is not recommended.
The last step is to identify the price of the ride. The price of the ride will appear when making a booking, and the passenger is recommended to check that the amount paid is the same as the one displayed in the application.
Elaborating further, Mohd Hazwan said Maxim passengers will observe a red SOS button at the top of the application.
“If there are any issues, they can activate it. This action triggers notifications to two parties – the emergency contact registered during sign-up and the nearest available driver.
“Maxim is very particular and concerned about the users’ bookings. Therefore, our application has a feedback function for users who want to share their experiences.
“In case of any problems, our customer service will contact them directly. I believe this can help users solve problems,” MY user support specialist Dayana Qistina said.
Maxim also monitors these cases and offers money refunds if an accident happens to a user.
“Throughout my experience of using e-hailing services, I have never encountered a driver who would try to scam me.
“This is because I pay attention to the booking information shared by Maxim, and I will continue to contact the driver in the chat,” comments Shawzwana, a Maxim E-hailing user.
