Having a chat with your taxi driver is nowhere near as common as it used to be, but taking the time to share a conversation with a stranger proved to be extremely beneficial for one elderly woman in the US state of California.
The 92-year-old woman was in the middle of a taxi ride from her home in Roseville, California, to a local bank, when she told her taxi driver that she planned to take out $25,000 to settle a tax debt.
The driver of the taxi, Rajbir Singh was instantly suspicious, and his worries were realised as the elderly woman described the scenario leading up to her decision to withdraw the money.
As Mr. Singh talked to the elderly woman, he learned that a stranger had called her saying that he represented the IRS and that they needed the money, but the driver knew that things didn’t seem right and asked the elderly woman if he could call the number that contacted her.
Mr. Singh called the number which was answered by a man who confessed that he did not know the woman he called, before eventually hanging up and blocking calls from the taxi driver.
“I am an honest guy, and these are old people. They need help,” Singh, the owner of Roseville Cab, told CNN on Thursday.
Despite these suspicious nature of the call and the taxi driver’s repeated pleas to reconsider withdrawing the money, the 92-year-old passenger was still not convinced that she was being scammed.
After a lengthy conversation pleading with his passenger, Mr. Singh managed to get the elderly woman to agree to a quick stop at a local police station to get an opinion on the situation before heading to the bank.
Thankfully, a discussion between Mr. Singh and a police officer prompted the officer to have a chat with the 92-year-old woman and together they managed to convince her that she was indeed being scammed.
Mr. Singh then convinced the elderly woman to get back into his taxi and returned her home safely with her bank account intact.
The Roseville Police shared this heartwarming story on their Facebook page, praising Mr. Singh for taking an interest in the wellbeing of his elderly passenger and taking time out of his day to ensure that she was not a victim.
“We love this story because several times throughout, Raj could have just taken his customer to her stop and not worried about her wellbeing,” Roseville police said in the Facebook post.
“He took time from his day and had the great forethought to bring the almost-victim to the police station for an official response.”
A week after foiling the would-be scammers and saving the elderly woman from being a potential victim, Mr. Singh got a call from the police asking him to come back to the local station,
Upon arrival, Mr. Singh was given a $50 gift voucher and praised for his role in preventing the scam of his elderly passenger.
“His quick thinking saved a senior citizen $25,000 and for that, we greatly appreciate his efforts,” police said.
Photo Courtesy of Roseville Police Facebook Page
