‘Wife in hospital, payment stuck’: Driver claims to have lost 4-day income in cruel hospital scam

In the digital age, scams are getting smarter—and often prey on the very instincts that make us human: empathy, urgency, and trust. One young Rapido captain recently learned this the hard way after falling victim to a meticulously crafted scam involving a fake emergency at a hospital. What seemed like a generous, high-paying ride near an army hospital quickly turned into a heartbreaking loss of four days' worth of hard-earned income. Now, his post on Reddit is sparking widespread discussion on how vulnerable gig workers are becoming in these emotionally manipulative cons.

The captain shared his ordeal, explaining that he received a booking near CH (Army Hospital) and immediately accepted it. Soon after, the passenger called him with an emotional story—his wife was inside the hospital and needed to be dropped off at the railway station. The passenger claimed he was paying Rs 4,200 and asked the captain to keep his share and transfer the remaining amount to his wife's ID, since the payment couldn't be made directly from his own account.

A Rs 4,000 transaction soon appeared in the driver’s account, which seemed legitimate at first glance. Trusting the caller, the Rapido captain followed the next instruction—to forward the amount to a QR code shared on WhatsApp, with the assumption that the payment had been routed to his account for transfer. The moment he did that, the scammer said he would be sending more money. That’s when the captain grew suspicious and disconnected the call. But by then, it was too late.

Only later did he realise that the Rs 4,000 in his account had not come from the passenger—it was money sent the previous day by a friend. The scam had worked because he didn’t double-check the timestamp of the payment. “I was scammed, despite being smart and educated,” he wrote in frustration. “My earnings of 4–5 days vanished in a minute because of a little ignorance.”

Netizens react

The incident struck a chord online, with many users relating to the experience. One user shared that a Rapido driver they knew had faced the exact same scam involving the same hospital and storyline, and despite filing a police report, not much progress was made.

But others came forward with advice and next steps. A comment outlined a clear action plan:

-Register a complaint at cybercrime.gov.in with all transaction details.
-Contact the bank and initiate a chargeback request. Share the cybercrime complaint as proof.
-Visit the local police station when the online complaint gets assigned and get an FIR filed. Share that with your bank to strengthen your claim.