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Perth’s sophisticated scam exploiting illegal student visa’s to rip off customers and strong-arm taxi industry

WA’s taxi industry has been overrun by a sophisticated network of temporary immigrants who are working illegally for companies which are ripping off customers with inflated fares. An investigation by The West Australian has lifted the lid on the scams and tactics used in an underground system run off the back of young men from Pakistan and India who have come here on student visas. The men are often briefed about particulars of working in the industry, and coached on obtaining a WA driver’s licence, before they even apply for their visa. When they arrive in Perth, they have accommodation sorted for them, with many “hot bedding” in crowded houses in working class suburbs. They apply for a “passenger transport driver” authorisation on the Department of Transport website. That can be done by anyone over 20 with a WA licence and who has held a licence anywhere in the world for more than three years. They then sign themselves up to different taxi companies, which operate as so-called on demand booking services — essentially websites set up after a simple application process on the DoT website. Veteran cabbie Jonathan Masih said the students were flooding an already crowded market. “Our financial situation is dire,” he said. “We cannot earn enough to support ourselves or our families caused by unlimited oversupply of vehicles, and an estimated 60 to 70 per cent of drivers being international students working unrestricted hours. “Rule-breakers and unregulated operators have taken over, making life in this country unbearable for compliant drivers. “If authorities did their job and stopped these practices, honest drivers could earn a fair, respectable income again.” The students are given a car for $425 a week and are coached about how to encourage customers to pay cash jobs by pretending metres are malfunctioning or EFTPOS machines are down. They are taught how to routinely activate the more expensive tier-three meter rating, which is reserved for late-night pickups and multiple passengers, for regular jobs. That tactic is common among the broader industry. When not taking fares at cab ranks, the students take jobs assigned through a network of WhatsApp groups set up by the booking services, which take a 10 per cent cut of each fare. There are more than 40 groups, each of which has hundreds of members. Message threads obtained by The West Australian show thousands of dollars an hour is funnelled through the groups, with cash and off-meter jobs prevalent. Customers willingly pay fares that are often more than double — and sometimes triple — what is charged by industry heavyweights Black and White cabs or 13 Cabs. People are regularly charged up to $60 for a ride in the same suburb, often only a few streets away. Some jobs are advertised as “no commission”, which one of the whistleblowers who spoke to The West said offered an extra opportunity to rinse more cash from customers. “In many cases, the customer has already been overcharged on the inbound journey,” the experienced driver said. “When arranging the return trip, the original driver tells the returning driver to charge the customer the same inflated amount. “If the correct fare should be around $30 but the customer was charged $50 on the inbound trip, the original driver instructs the return driver to also charge $50. “The return driver then keeps the legitimate $30 fare and transfers the remaining $20 to the original driver via PayID.” The WhatsApp groups are used to warn drivers when authorities are conducting a compliance blitz. A recent operation between the Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure, WA Police, Australian Federal Police and Perth Airport saw six work orders placed on unroadworthy vehicles, 14 cautions and 23 improvement notices issued for non-compliance. WA Assistant Transport Minister Jessica Stojkovski said the number of unroadworthy vehicles detected was “simply not acceptable”. “These compliance operations will continue, with no warning as to where or when they’ll take place,” she said. The DTMI said it did “not have legislative authority to investigate the visa status of passenger transport drivers”. “This would fall under the authority of Federal authorities such as Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force,” a department spokesperson said. “There have been no complaints made to DTMI about the visa status of passenger transport drivers.” People on student visas are allowed to work 48 hours in any given fortnight during semester but many drivers clock up to 90, sending money back to their home countries. They should not work for more than 14 hours in any one driving shift but many simply go “off meter” after that period. Some students genuinely study but others do not bother turning up. If push comes to shove, the university will cancel the student’s “confirmation of enrolment”. In that case, the Department of Home Affairs is alerted through a database known as the Provider Registration and International Student Management System. Students whose enrolment is cancelled are given 30 days to leave the country but many do not. Multiple sources in Government told The West Australian that Australian Border Force agents spent little time searching for over-stayers. At any one time there are more than 700,000 people in Australia on student visas. A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said employers engaging foreign workers “must ensure that they comply with both Australian workplace laws and immigration laws”. “Students must remain compliant with all visa conditions imposed on their Student visa, including Condition 8202, which requires them to remain enrolled, attend classes, and make satisfactory course progress in the course for which the visa was granted,” the spokesperson said. “The Department encourages visa holders to comply with their visa conditions, and acts against those engaged in serious breaches through possible visa cancellation and/or removal from Australia. “The complexity and time frame of a removal can vary significantly depending on the individual circumstances of the unlawful non-citizen, including identity, documentation, legal proceeding and cooperation with removal arrangements.” State Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said passengers had a right to expect that the person driving them was “properly licensed, is operating legally and is fit to be behind the wheel”. “This isn’t just about illegal operators undercutting honest taxi drivers,” he said. “It’s also about community safety, protecting passengers and ensuring workers themselves are not exploited. “If the Government has known about concerns in this industry, been presented with credible evidence of organised illegal activity and still failed to act, then West Australians deserve to know why. “Twice in the last 12 months, Minister Jessica Stojkovski has boasted about compliance blitzes undertaken on the taxi and rideshare industry. “Yet if these allegations are true, they expose those operations as little more than a publicity exercise.”

The West Australian exclusivePerth’s sophisticated scam exploiting illegal student visa’s to rip off customers and strong-arm taxi industry

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Perth’s sophisticated scam exploiting illegal student visa’s to rip off customers and strong-arm taxi industry