Ahead of an expected influx of tourists during the World Cup, the Taxi and Limousine Commission and the Port Authority are cracking down on airport taxi hustlers.

Officials on Tuesday announced a $100 million effort — including stiffer penalties, increased surveillance, more enforcement and increased public outreach — meant to curb a rash of unlicensed taxi and rideshare drivers gouging unsuspecting visitors when they first enter Gotham.

“We’ve all seen the individuals who wait around the baggage claim and on our frontages, targeting unknown passengers with the offer of transportation — often posing as legitimate rideshare drivers,” Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia told reporters at Kennedy Airport Tuesday.

“They are, at their best, annoying for travelers,” Garcia said. “At their worst, they are a real threat to public safety.”

In many instances, the Port boss said, a hustler will gouge an unsuspecting tourist with exorbitant prices.

Taxi hustling isn’t just a financial threat, Garcia said.

In extreme cases, taxi hustlers have refused to let passengers go until they pay up — a situation that’s happened at least 16 times in the past year.

“In December, two travelers arrived in JFK from Japan,” she said. “Upon arriving, a woman pretending to work at the airport escorted them to a hustler who offered to drive them to their destination.”

But once the pair got into the car, Garcia said they were told the trip would cost $500. The driver took them to an ATM, and when they refused to pay, drove them to Flushing Meadow Park where there were threatened.

“This is but one example of a real problem that has only grown over the years,” Garcia said.

The new enforcement strategy is multifaceted, officials said.

In addition to deploying dozens of additional Port Authority Police Department officers, both in uniform and plainclothes, license-plate readers will be used to alert the PAPD to vehicles they suspect of involvement in an illegal taxi scheme.

Under the auspices of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, a conviction for illegally soliciting for-hire rides will carry a five-point penalty on the offender’s license. Under New York State law, a driver’s license can be suspended after receiving 11 points within a two-year span.

Going forward, the PAPD’s summonses will be prosecuted through the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, the same body that adjudicates TLC summonses.

Additionally, a public information campaign featuring announcements both in airport terminals and on flights seeks to warn New York visitors about the dangers of illegal taxi scams.

Taxi hustling has long been a problem at the city’s airports, where unexpecting out-of-towners might not know the ropes well enough to avoid being swindled. But Garcia said the problem is growing.

In 2025, Port Authority police issued 2,874 summonses for taxi hustling at both LaGuardia and Kennedy airports. Most of those tickets — 2,602 — were issued at Kennedy.

That’s up from 2024, when 1,698 such summonses were issued — 1,414 at Kennedy and 284 at LaGuardia.

In 2023 the PAPD gave out 1,373 taxi-hustling summonses — 1,098 at Kennedy and 275 at LaGuardia. That’s up from 2022, when 802 were issued — 571 at Kennedy, 231 at LaGuardia.

The Taxi and Limousine Commission, which has its own enforcement wing, could not immediately provide historical data. But a TLC spokesman told the Daily News the agency issued 2,021 summonses for unauthorized operation of a for-hire vehicle in the first five months of this year.