Thousands of tourists and residents who took New York City's yellow taxis were quietly ripped off by drivers who frequently manipulated their meters to double the fare rate, and 59 drivers were arrested.

The Manhattan district attorney's office said six drivers reeled in more than 10,000 US dollars apiece by repeatedly bumping their meters up to a higher suburban rate when they actually were in the city.

One driver overcharged more than 5,100 times between November 2008 and June 2010, according to prosecutors.

Officials said unsuspecting passengers overpaid an average of about five US dollars.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.