Uber and Taxify drivers should be on their guard against hijackers posing as potential clients‚ KwaZulu-Natal police have warned.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said that drivers should be on high alert after a worrying trend emerged over the festive period.

“A number of robbery incidents were reported where criminals pretend to be clients‚ (ask to be) fetched from restaurants or nightclubs‚ with their requested destination in KwaMashu‚” he said.

“They will stop the drivers at a gunpoint and rob them of their belongings and (their) vehicles sometimes‚” he added.

Zwane said that on New Year’s Eve‚ a driver was dropping a passenger in G-Section in the township.

“The passenger paid a short fare and told the driver to wait for someone who will pay the full amount and all of a sudden they pointed a firearm at the complainant and they took cash as well as his two cell phones.”

In another incident on New Year’s Day‚ an Uber driver was robbed at gunpoint in J-Section.

“They demanded his cell phone and took his cash and then he was forced to get into the boot of the car.

“Cases of robberies are being investigated.”