Taxi driver charged foreign student $4,240 for a cab ride from airport

• Driver approached Chinese student at Chicago O’Hare airport
• After agreeing fare of $1,000 for 150-mile journey, driver then demanded $4,800
• Student gave cabbie all the money he had brought with him

‘The student said he didn’t have that much so he gave him all he had,’ University of Illinois police Sgt. Tom Geis told the News-Gazette.

Chicago police are now looking for the driver.

The International Student and Scholar Services program at the University of Illinois asked the student as to why he trusted the taxi driver and why he was carrying such a large amount of money in the first place.

‘It’s hard to know why this would have happened,’ Julie Misa, director of the program said.

Touting for business: The driver approached the student in the arrivals hall after picking up his bag and initially agreed to a $1,000 fare for the trip

The university website recommends students a number of ways to get to the campus including a bus which costs around $30.

A web site designed to book taxi rides, worldtaximeter.com, says that riders should expect to pay $290 for a cab from O’Hare to Champaign, a 150 mile trip.