Aussie sisters recall the terrifying moment they were almost abducted while on holiday in Italy: ‘There were red flags everywhere’

Two Australian sisters have issued a warning to women travelling overseas after revealing how a terrifying encounter in Italy could have ended very differently.

Steph and Holly Davey, who host the Girls Next Door podcast, recalled the moment a man posing as a taxi driver tried to lead them and three friends away from Naples Airport towards an underground area where an unmarked black van was waiting.

While Steph and Holly knew something felt wrong at the time, it was only after hearing a string of frighteningly similar stories from other female travellers that they began to recognise just how many ‘red flags’ they had missed.

The incident happened six years ago when the sisters were travelling through Europe with friends.

After walking out of Naples Airport with their luggage, Steph remembered being struck by the chaotic surroundings, as well as two men standing nearby who appeared to be watching them.

‘It’s a bit of a hustle and bustle. You’re a bit like whiplash and confused,’ she recalled.

‘Straight away, I see two men. They actually looked very similar. They were dressed very similar, a little bit older, gold chains, standing there just watching us.’

The group brushed it off and focused on finding a taxi big enough for all five women and their luggage.

That’s when a ‘well-dressed man with neck tattoos’ approached them, speaking fluent English and offered them a ride.

‘He walks over and it was like he was the calm amongst the storm,’ Steph said.

‘Girls, girls, girls, are you looking for a taxi? Come with me. I’m a taxi,’ he told them.

Initially, his offer seemed convenient, but when the women asked whether his vehicle could fit everyone, the man began counting them one by one.

‘In that moment, my gut’s kind of like, why is he counting us?’ Steph recalled.

The two men they had noticed watching them earlier then appeared to become involved, with one urging the women to ‘go, go, go’.

They then began following the supposed driver but soon realised he wasn’t taking them towards the official taxi rank.

Instead, he led them in the direction of an underground area where an unmarked black van was waiting.

Their other sister Brianna stopped and asked where the taxi sign was, but the mystery man allegedly continued insisting the van was a taxi and urged them to keep walking.

That’s when legitimate taxi drivers nearby began shouting at the group.

‘No, don’t go, bad man, bad man, not taxi driver,’ one called out in English.

The women immediately turned around, despite the man continuing to tell them they were ‘so close’ and insisting the vehicle would fit everyone.

The legitimate drivers alerted police and, according to the sisters, the man fled as soon as he realised he had been identified.

‘The police started sprinting through the crowd, and we look at the guy that originally approached us, and he just takes off to God knows where,’ they recalled.

By then the women were terrified and didn’t know who they could trust.

Making matters worse, they realised they had already shown the stranger the address of their Airbnb after he asked where they were going.

Several hours after arriving at the property, they heard loud banging at the door.

Still shaken by the airport encounter, the group was too frightened to answer.

When they eventually opened it around 90 minutes later, they discovered an enormous pot plant had somehow been carried up several flights of stairs and left outside.

They never established who put it there or whether it was connected to what happened at the airport.

Admittedly terrified for the rest of their stay, the group avoided taxis where possible and stuck together.

‘It’s just crazy when you reflect on the little things that seem really normal, and you feel like you’re doing the right thing, or simply having a general conversation,’ they said.

The two hosts decided to revisit their scary experience after hearing a growing number of women share frightening encounters while travelling.

One listener Olivia, 26, revealed that a man had ushered her into a car in San Francisco in 2012, which later led to a high-speed crash and a police shoot-out.

Another included a woman who said she was chased by a car while walking alone through Milan at around 5am.

A third woman named Claire recounted being repeatedly approached by a stranger after arriving alone in the French city of Marseille.

She managed to get away from him at the airport, only to encounter the same man at a train station the following day.

While the intentions of the strangers involved in these encounters weren’t known, Steph and Holly said the stories highlighted behaviours they now pay far more attention to.

Despite the frightening stories, the sisters stressed their message isn’t about telling women to stop travelling.

Instead, they encouraged travellers to stay aware of their surroundings, protect personal information and stick with friends where possible.