A woman from Gurugram faced a horrifying experience when she received a disturbing text message from her Uber driver. The message, reading “I want to kidnap you,” was sent in the early hours of the morning as she prepared for a trip to the railway station. Terrified, the woman immediately canceled her ride and rushed back to safety.
The incident was shared on Reddit by user kushpyro1 in the r/gurgaon forum. According to her post, she had booked an Uber Priority Sedan Cab to Anand Vihar Terminal. After informing the driver of her location, she put her phone away to handle her luggage. When she reopened the app to reconfirm the OTP, she was shocked to see the unsettling message from the driver.
The Chilling Message
The conversation shared by the rider showed the following exchange:
- Rider: “I am here. Anand Vihar Terminal drop. Please come.”
- Driver: “Go to Anand Vihar. I want to go to kidnap you happily.”
Panicking, the woman quickly took a screenshot of the message, canceled the ride, and ran back home. She described her fear in the post, writing,
“I am shivering while I am actually writing this right now. I have a train in 1 hour and God knows if I will reach there on time”
They added,
“When he was about to arrive, I thought to myself to check the OTP once and flashed open my Uber Chat where driver sent me a bizarre message”
She further explained that while canceling the cab, the driver also canceled it from his end.
“I don’t know what impulse kicked into me (4am, barely any sleep and panic after reading text from a guy who is literally few seconds in front of me) but I thought to cancel the cab, when I began to cancel he immediately cancelled himself and I ran back into the house with my luggage. I happened to take a SS just a moment before it was cancelled (sic)
“Now, I’m left wondering – what just happened? Is there somewhere I can report this incident? I’m genuinely scared, and unsure how to now proceed onto reaching my station (sic),”
Uber Driver Freighting Behaviour (14th December)
byu/kushpyro1 ingurgaon
Mixed Reactions on Reddit
The Reddit post received a wide range of reactions. Some users speculated that the word “drop” may have been autocorrected to “kidnap”. Others believed it could be a translation error or a typo.
One user commented, “It looks like autocorrect gone wrong. But good thing you took another cab. This was freaky.”
Another added, “This seems like a translation mishap because the sentence makes no sense.”
However, the rider clarified that she checked multiple language translations and found no link between the word “drop” and “kidnap,” except for the Hindi word “apaharan.”
To this, the rider replied that they tried all
“8+ native language queries to English and nothing translates to “kidnap” except the word “apaharan”
Uber’s Response
The user reported the incident to Uber’s support team, who assured her that immediate action would be taken. In a follow-up post, the rider mentioned Uber’s response, which stated:
The driver would be indefinitely banned from viewing or accepting her ride requests.
Uber would investigate the matter by speaking to the driver. Disciplinary actions could include sensitizing the driver or terminating their Uber account.
Final Thoughts
This alarming incident has sparked discussions about safety during cab rides and the role of communication errors in such situations. While some believe it was an unfortunate autocorrect issue, the rider’s fear and prompt action highlight the importance of vigilance.
What do you think about this incident? Was it a simple mistake or something more concerning? Share your opinions in the comments.
