Thai woman sexually harassed by ride-hailing app driver

A Thai woman took to social media to plead for justice after a perverted driver from a ride-hailing application sexually harassed her via an online conversation.

The 51 year old victim, A, revealed to Channel 3 that the incident took place on November 9 at 12.02am. She booked a ride from her workplace in the Bang Khun Tian district of Bangkok back to her home in the central province of Nakhon Pathom.

A did not mention the exact name of the application but suggested that the app allowed passengers to suggest fares and any driver who agreed to the fare would accept the booking. The ride-hailing application is believed to be inDriver.

A added that the app did not allow users to see the drivers’ full names. The drivers’ bios would include only first name, age, picture of a car, and registration plate. According to the profile, the driver was a Thai man aged 35 years old. He drove a white sedan with a registration number 1990 but the two Thai alphabets on the plate were unclear.

Immediately after the booking, the driver sent her inappropriate messages. She took part in the following conversation below:

Driver: Can I have sex with you in the car?
A: Are you gonna provide me a ride?
Driver: Can we have sex?
A: Are you going to drive me to the destination?
Driver: If you let me have sex with you, I will go for free. C*m inside, OK?
A: I can pay the fare by myself.
Driver: So, can I c*m inside?

Social media help

Many netizens questioned why A kept talking to the perverted driver and why she tried to use the service from him despite his explicit messages.

A said she was shocked and did not know what to do. She cancelled the trip but was afraid to leave work for fear that the driver, who already knew where she was, would be waiting for her outside.

A explained that she later filed a complaint against the driver on November 11 at Tha Kham Police Station but officers were unable to process the complaint. The officers asked her to contact the application to get the driver’s full name and ID number.

A tried to get the information from the application and spoke to the administrator six or seven times but was unable to get even the full name. Someone from the app later contacted her to say that it had already banned the driver from providing services. The app did not apologise to her either.

A decided to share the screenshot of the conversation on social media, which forced the application to provide her with the driver’s identity.

A gave the information to the police, who promised to summon the driver and charge him with violating Section 392 of the Criminal Code: causing fear and alarm to others by using threats. The penalty is imprisonment for up to one month, a fine of up to 10,000 baht, or both.

Police did not report whether the driver had been charged or not.