Video of Cab Driver Threatening Passengers in Bali Shared as One From Maldives

This video is from Bali and shows a cab driver trying to extort money from travellers.

A video of a person driving a car with two female voices in the background saying ‘Let us out of the car, we’ll pay you” is being shared on social media platforms.

What is the claim?: Amid the India-Maldives row, users sharing the video claimed that it is from the Maldives, insinuating that it is an unsafe country for women. The claim also said that "girls should avoid going there."

(Archives of similar claims can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: The claim is false as the video is from Bali, Indonesia.

• It shows a cab driver threatening two American travellers with a knife to extort an exorbitant amount of money.

How did we find out?: We divided the video into multiple keyframes and ran a Google reverse image search on them.

• We came across a news report by The Independent from 10 January about tourists threatened by a taxi driver with a knife in “row over fare.”

• The report included screenshots as its cover image that matched with the frames of the viral video.

• Swipe right to see the similarities.

• The report noted that the two women were travelling through Kuta, a beach destination in the island's southern region. They proposed to pay the driver 50,000 Indonesian Rupiah for the ride, but he demanded $50, equivalent to 776,910 Indonesian Rupiah.

• It also noted that one of the passengers tried asking for help by banging on the car’s window however the driver tried to “strike her.” Later, he reached for the knife and made “throat-cutting gestures.”

• According to Vietnamese newspaper VN Express, “The police are set to charge the suspect with extortion and threat under the Criminal Code with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.”

• The Indonesian Police's statement read that the incident took place on 2 January and the cab driver was currently in their custody.

Conclusion: The video is being falsely shared as one from the Maldives to create a false narrative amid the diplomatic row. However, this video is from Bali.

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