A scam involving a three-wheel driver has been reported from several quarters in Colombo.

Targeting solitary female drivers, the three-wheel driver accuses them of having hit his mirror and proceeds to attempt to extort money from them.

Several women have reported being approached by the scammer, who is described as looking 'drugged out' and driving recklessly'. 

 In a Facebook post, the brother of a woman who had been approached twice in this manner wrote: ‘This Trishaw bearing registration number 'GR-2656' had flashed his lights and motioned for my sister to stop. This happened a few days ago at the top of Kassapa Road.

The trishaw told my sister that she had hit his mirror and that she had not stopped. My sister told the driver that he can speak to our father at which point she drove away. He followed her from there on. When she stopped as our driver came to her aide the trishaw took off.

Yesterday my sister was on her way back home when once again a trishaw pulled alongside her near Independence Square. It was the same trishaw and driver. He once again told her that she had 'hit' his mirror. My sister recognised the same driver and told him that he had tried this on her just a few days ago.

He insisted that he had not and that she had just broken his mirror. My sister proceeded to drive away and the trishaw had followed her. At the Jawatte traffic lights, he pulled alongside her on the left and with a sharp object scraped the rear quarter panel of her car. He then took off straight where as my sister was turning right.

The brother of the woman who was approached said Police has been duly notified of the scam. He warned women driving alone to be aware of their surroundings and to beware of the scammer.