(File photo)

After hailing a car through the online app Didi, a 24-year-old woman was robbed and brutally killed by the car's driver in Shenzhen on the night of May 2. The suspect was captured by police the following day.

On May 3, Didi made an announcement about the incident: "Based on preliminary verification, the victim called a car from our platform. Pan, the suspect, registered his real ID, driver's license and car to our platform, and passed the safety check. However, he was using a fake license plate on the night he committed the crime."

At the end of March, five car-hailing service platforms, including Didi, were interviewed by government authorities in Shenzhen to discuss the existing problems with car-hailing apps. According to a notification issued by the government, the car-hailing service platforms have loose access systems. Some drivers are drug addicts, some have mental illnesses, and others have criminal records. Some drug addicts whose driver's licenses were cancelled nevertheless registered as drivers for car-hailing services without any difficulty. 

Even Didi, China's biggest online car-hailing service platform, fails to satisfactorily verify drivers' qualifications. Meanwhile, many passengers have filed complaints about inconsistencies between real license plate numbers and the numbers given at the time of reservation.