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The past couple times I’ve taken a yellow cab from JFK, when I arrive at my destination the driver wants me to tap my card on his phone rather than use the in-car POS card reader. Both times the driver has said that the card reader is “frozen” or “broken.” And each time I’ve refused to tap my card on his phone. The first guy I paid cash but the second time I said fuck it – either I pay using the card reader or you get nothing. I ended up not paying after he started cussing me out.

This feels like a scam. I’m not tapping my card on some dudes phone. What’s going on here? I’m assuming it’s an off-the-books ride and the driver is trying to avoid fees, etc. How can I avoid this bs in the future?