In Moscow, 1-hr cab ride cost $900

A Chilean journalist was taken for a very expensive taxi ride during the Confederations Cup soccer tournament in Moscow.

Diego Saez, a 38-year-old journalist from Radio ADN in Chile, was scammed by the driver, who charged him around $900 for a one-hour ride from the Domodedovo airport in southern Moscow to his hotel in the city center after arriving from Munich in the early hours of Thursday.

That’s 50 times the typical fare.

Tired from an overnight journey that started in Romania, where Chile played its last friendly game before the Confederations Cup on Tuesday, Saez said at first he did not calculate the exchange rate when the driver told him the astronomical fare upon arrival.

After paying but before exiting the car, he consulted with a Chilean colleague over the phone, who told him a more reasonable rate would be $90—and even that’s very high by Moscow standards.

“I then started arguing with him (the driver) to get my money back, but he insisted on the fare,” Saez said.

The driver dropped his bags in front of the hotel entrance and Saez said he took a picture of the license plate and, with the help of the hotel manager, contacted police.

He was interviewed by Russian officials until around 5 a.m., and they called him back on Friday to stop by a local police station, where they had the driver detained.

The driver returned all the money, and then some. “He offered to drive mearound for free during the whole tournament, but I refused,” Saez said.