Melbourne university student told to pay taxi driver $100 after leaving iPhone in GM Cabs

A university student who left her iPhone in a taxi after a night out ‘bar hopping’ claims the driver demanded $100 to return it or he’d ‘throw it off a bridge’.

The Melbourne woman, 19, realised she didn’t have her phone after getting a lift home with GM Cabs about 3am last Sunday.

That set in motion an epic hunt to find her phone, which not only contained personal messages but also her ID and some important documents.  

The next day the university student, who didn’t want to be named, called the bars she visited the previous evening. They didn’t have the phone.

Her last hope was the taxi company. But it wasn’t returning her calls and messages.

The Melbourne woman, 19, realised she didn’t have her phone after getting a lift home with GM Cabs about 3am last Sunday, 17 September

Using Apple’s Find My iPhone feature the university student tracked her phone – which she nicknamed ‘Bruh’ – to Melbourne’s CBD

Using Apple’s Find My iPhone feature she tracked the phone – which she nicknamed ‘Bruh’ – to Melbourne’s CBD.

Her mother was able to send a message asking whoever had it to call with the taxi driver picking up the phone.

‘He (said he) wouldn’t drop it off and would only take $100 to deliver it to me,’ she told the Herald Sun.

His reason was that he lived in Shepparton, which is usually a $300-plus fare. 

She claimed the driver also demanded she pay by bank transfer and not cash. 

But because the location data showed the phone was in downtown Melbourne not 180km north in the country Victorian town, she refused.

The young woman asked her mother to call the phone and the driver answered.

‘That’s where he angrily threatened he was going to throw it off a bridge. Ten minutes later my iPhone’s location disappeared.’

With an estimated 50 bridges and roads crossing the Yarra River, the chances of it being found at all, let alone in working order, seemed slim. 

In desperation she tried again, asking a friend to call the driver.

When she finally got through, she offered to pay him to mail the device. 

He allegedly refused.

The determined student then went to Bourke Street Police Station, where officers were unable to reach the driver.

Unable to access her bank account and unable to afford food, she sat at home depressed contemplating the lost phone. 

Two days later she received a call from a different police station, 20km out of the CBD saying they had her phone. 

With an estimated 50 bridges and roads crossing the Yarra River, the chances of the student’s iPhone being found at all, let alone in working order seemed slim

However when finally collected her phone, the screen was broken and the display pixelated

However when she collected it, the screen was broken and the display pixelated.

The woman did however catch a lucky break when a kind stranger lent her another phone until she could afford to get her screen repaired.

She claimed to have had no contact from the driver or GM Cabs.

Daily Mail Australia approached GM Cabs for comment.