PROS AT CONS
Foreign tourists in India can expect sunshine, splendour... and scams at every turn. As more firangs head to our shores, videos and blogs that track the most common, complex scams are going viral
To hear New Zealand native Karl Rock tell it, Delhi is Ground Zero for tourist scams, Paharganj is “a hotbed of fraudsters” who specifically target foreign travellers, and at religious sites across the country, some priests aren’t above making a fast buck at the expense of a visitor. He would know. Rock, 34, made several trips to India over the last decade, has visited 33 states, speaks fluent Hindi, and loves the country enough to have settled in Delhi. He runs the eponymous Youtube channel, featuring fun, caught-on-the-spot videos that attempt to ‘make sense’ of life in India. It has close to 3.5 lakh subscribers, videos often touch 5 million views and there’s a sub-genre (21 videos) on scams and safety. He even has an e-book, India Survival Guide, aimed at orienting (cautioning, really) visitors about scams and sickness, harassment, bargaining, pollution, and more.
Rock is probably the most devoted of the digital content creators tracking how pervasive and persistent Indian touts can be. While domestic tourists typically fall for the occasional rigged rickshaw meter, a deliberate mistranslation or marked-up souvenirs, ‘White-tourist’ scams are on a whole new level (see box). They’re targeted, organised, well-rehearsed and cover every stage of a vacation, from arrival to departure and beyond.
Over the last five years, videos and blog posts have started to offer the kind of practical, first-hand advice that is missing from most travel brochures, magazines and official websites. On Youtube, foxnomad’s ‘What happens when you say YES to every scam in India’ has had close to 7 lakh views in a year. Deathbyvlog’s ‘SCAMMED in India’ has had 23,000 views in a week. Birch Web Design has a whole series and their Delhi Tourist Scam #2 from two years ago has racked up 56,000 views.
The comments sections on all of them bristle with Indians outraging at the foreigners’ gullibility, and with foreigners aghast that we are such frauds. Neither sentiment bodes well for Indian tourism.
ALL GROWTH, NO CHECKS
India’s growth story since the 1990s has seen a parallel rise in international visitor interest, with numbers nearly doubling over the past decade. Between January and November 2018, 93.6 lakh foreigners visited — up from 50 lakh tourists in 2007.
There’s also been a spurt in tourists on gap-year trips, long-stay vacations and self-planned holidays. They look for offbeat, off-the-itinerary experiences, and rely more on online marketplaces than tour operators who would have buffered them from some scams. Karan Anand, head of relationships at Cox & Kings, says established tour providers will typically offer insurance against illness, accidents, delays and lost baggage – which small operators won’t. There will be legal invoices rather than dodgy transaction proofs.
More importantly, there will be a trusted person to turn to. “At several tourist places in India, where foreigners are charged differently, operators will inform them in advance of the entry fees or opportunities to pre-book,” he says. Tourists get phone briefings about their trips and suggested action in case of emergency. “In a group booking, the tour leaders start with a city tour, so tourists become familiar with the city and its people.”
Rock says most first-timers flying blind have little idea of the last few decades of development in India. “They’re also used to systems that work,” he says.
Scammers thrive in this gap — and the Youtube videos are an attempt to bridge it. They will tell you, for instance, that cash transactions are common in India but you must insist on (and check) your receipt. That it’s not illegal (or unusual) for civilians to wear clothes in the colours of official uniforms. Or to name a private company India Tourism, Incredible India, International Tourist Bureau or DTTDC (a play on Delhi Tourism Department Corporation) to trick you into thinking it’s a government-run enterprise. They will remind you that 14 states have some form of tourist police – but neither the numbers nor the power to crack down on scammers.
Most of all, the videos are a window into the many faces of what we call jugaad —