[faustus77]

Hi SSTraveller,

To the scams listed by you I would like to add one more which is on a much bigger scale viz the toll charges collected by our greedy government (their motto is to squeeze as much as possible and in any way and every way)
It is not your right to have good roads but the moment you have somewhat good roads you pay. And you have no alternative. No refund,no bargaining.
My example would be that on monday the 18th I drove from Delhi to Jaipur with umpteen diversions and at time reducing my speed to a crawl with the result I got an average of 18+ and when driving from Baroda to Udaipur (on 9th march,a smooth drive) got an average of 22+KMPL.
Regards

PS:Mods: We have another thread about the ethics of levying toll on unfinished highways so if this post is inappropriate please delete.
PPS: AFAIR a court has questioned collecting toll on unfinished highways.Also most of the toll collections are owned by politicians and/or their kin/freinds.

[Trust_In_Thrust]

During my visit to a cement plant few weeks back to Beawer , Rajasthan. I was forced to stop by a Rajasthan police and threatened with impounding of car for no error committed. I ended up paying 5000/- INR and was made to sit in police station for 3 hours. I hate this system we are made to follow .

[faustus77]

Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust

During my visit to a cement plant few weeks back to Beawer , Rajasthan. I was forced to stop by a Rajasthan police and threatened with impounding of car for no error committed. I ended up paying 5000/- INR and was made to sit in police station for 3 hours. I hate this system we are made to follow .

Trust in Thrust
Hi.
Curious to know why did they take you to the police station.There must have been some reason that they asked you for the money.Did they give you a receipt and what does it say?
A few months back there was an article in the Bombay Times of India that the cops cannot haul you to the police station.They have to provide a reason.I had given a link to the mods and requested that they advise the thread where I could provide the link.
Regards

[Trust_In_Thrust]

Originally Posted by faustus77

Trust in Thrust
Hi.
Curious to know why did they take you to the police station.There must have been some reason that they asked you for the money.Did they give you a receipt and what does it say?
A few months back there was an article in the Bombay Times of India that the cops cannot haul you to the police station.They have to provide a reason.I had given a link to the mods and requested that they advise the thread where I could provide the link.
Regards

I was in a jam behind a Innova when a constable knocks on my windows and says open the door . There was a senior some distance away .He than sat in the car and said "sahab ne bola hai chalo " . So they hauled me to police station and then said give us 10K else we will impound the car and file a case of you restricting a govt officer on duty . After much haggling 5000/- out and i was let off . I still do not believe the country which i live is just totally pathetic with no system of punishing such people .There is no way they can issue a receipt for this .
Now out of state i generally end up taking Taxi .

[faustus77]

Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust

I was in a jam behind a Innova when a constable knocks on my windows and says open the door . There was a senior some distance away .He than sat in the car and said "sahab ne bola hai chalo " . So they hauled me to police station and then said give us 10K else we will impound the car and file a case of you restricting a govt officer on duty . After much haggling 5000/- out and i was let off . I still do not believe the country which i live is just totally pathetic with no system of punishing such people .There is no way they can issue a receipt for this .
Now out of state i generally end up taking Taxi .

Hi.
Totally sympathize with your predicament.Sad that an average citizen of India is harassed and on top of that he has to part with hard earned money.
It is all due to the political backing that the such things are a bane of us Indians.
Politicians have been shedding crocodile tears for the average citizen and promising to amend the Indian Police Act which dates back to 1861(we were ruled by the British and it was heavily in their favour).
Regards

[mayankk]

Thanks Doc, Awesome write up and depth.

Here's one i encountered today.
I crossed over from Sarojini nagar to Lakshmi bai nagar, and these two chaps on a scooter came next to the car while driving.
The one in front wasnt wearing a helmet, looked over at me and gave a big smile, and a salute, and mouthed," kaise ho?(how are you)?". Then asked me to stop for a minute, smiling throughout.
I stopped and he stopped next to my car. I didnt recognize this guy, and had already locked up the car . Windows were already up owing to the summer.

This guy gets off the scooter, and speaks through the 1 inch gap in the windows, and goes, "Kaise ho(how are you)?" and immediately reaches down to open the door, but its locked.
I can see his eyes darting over the music system, and the mobile,and the laptop bag in the rear.
(This is all translated).
"We are haryana jats, dont be afraid. we have something. We do customs work, and have got a shipment of mobiles, laptops and other such jing-jang."
I just nodded no, rolled up the window, and drove off.

This is serious guys, If you dont know somebody waving you down, dont stop, or at least dont stop till you secure yourself.
I saw a traffic cop at the next light, and told him. He said this is something new that the guys from Pillanji( a small locality in the area) have come up with.
They either rob you outright, or take away a mobile surreptitously.

[Derezzed]

I was tricked last Sunday at the HP factory pump on the Pune-Mumbai expressway service road. (the 1st one on the left on the way to Mumbai 3 kms after the Hinjewadi bridge)

I stopped at this fuel station to top up my tank of petrol: another Rs. 1500 worth of petrol. I always get out of my car, lock it and stand next to the refueling attendant to oversee the entire process and avoid any scams. However this time as soon as the attendant inserted the fuel delivery nozzle inside my car and started pumping petrol a second attendant made his way to the front of my car. He casually asked me to switch on the car's windshield washer so that he could clean the glass.
I didn't see anything wrong with this, probably he didn't have clean water to wash the glass, and I activated the wiper washer for 10 seconds. When I got back to my original position next to the fuel attendant I immediately realized that I had been fooled.
The fuel pump was stuck at Rs. 400 and the attendant told me that there was no electricity and it had already dispensed Rs. 400 worth of petrol. He pressed some buttons and voila the pump started again. I was expecting the fuel delivery to auto cut-off at around approx. Rs. 1100 as by then my tank would have been full again, however to my horror the pump kept on dispensing petrol and it finally got auto cut-off at approx. Rs. 1600. So I ended up paying close to Rs. 2000 for an actual Rs. 1500 worth of petrol.

These guys had robbed me of my hard earned money with their dirty tactics. I swear I'll never go to that pump again and add this incident to my list of experiences.

[bbhavan]

Thanks SS sir for the effort put in by you for compiling this article.

It is very useful, especially the second part.


To check whether the service centre guy has filled in with quality oil, by checking the color of the oil, will be very difficult for someone like me.

I think I should attend some coaching classes for doing nominal maintenance works , even I don't know how to change my tyre.

Need to spend some time to understand the things.


Keep up your good work,

regards

[MotoNanu]

I came across a new scam which was faced by my friends' father.

He was duped of a huge amount and that too in broad day light!

His father was returning from the bank towards his car with his bag stacked with cash. He got inside the car and placed the bag on the floor hump, behind the hand brake. The driver was about to start the car, when one of the guys came and told that blood was dripping n the rear side of the car!

The driver was asked to get down and check the same, his father still seated in the car on the rear seat. The driver came panicked and replied in affirmative that indeed blood was dripping. Uncle got down and went to check himself. He stood near the rear door and examined the scene. Soon he realized that it was not blood but red color oil paint which was dripping! He asked the driver to clean it. All this time he was watching over the bag.

The driver opened the boot and this is when someone took the bag from the car and escaped! My friends' father had been monitoring closely but lost them when the boot was opened and those few second were sufficient for the conman to loot. This happened in one of the busiest area of the town at around 1230 pm

[SS-Traveller]

My cousin got a visit from a cop purporting to be from the local police station yesterday, saying his vehicle number had a complaint about rash driving and tinted glasses, reported at 9:30 am on NH8. He does not have tinted glasses, nor is he a rash driver. The cop met his wife (he was in office at the time), wanted to see the car (which wasn't at home), noted my cousin's mobile number, and left saying he would be in touch.

When I learnt about this, I checked with my own sources, and there is no policeman by that name posted in that police station. The fellow has not called or turned up again after yesterday.

I suspect it's some fraudster in a fake police uniform trying to make a fast buck.

My contact advises me to get the man's mobile phone number the next time he turns up (if at all), and also to call and check immediately if that number is indeed the one he is carrying.

[noidea]

This new scam has started near Majerhat bridge in Kolkata.


One afternoon while I had stopped at the red light, a couple of young chaps came rushing up to me, a little breathless, and informed me that there has been an accident up ahead and a poor beggar was injured. They were the local unemployed boys who were taking him to the hospital and any contribution from my side will be very helpful. So I gave them a fifty.

After a few days at the same crossing, I heard the same story but from a different set of chaps, and after a couple of days, same story again but this time - the original set.

Fourth time around there was a twist in the tale. The beggar had expired and they had to take him to the crematorium and thus donation was needed.

They are pretty regular at that crossing but these days they recognize my car and don’t come to me, so I will not be able to update you about the progression of the story but I suppose there is no dearth of compassionate souls who will “donate” if the story has misfortune in it.
As also action, drama, emotion and MA!!


Note to Mods : Please merge if there is a similar thread. Thanks.

[2000rpm]

Hey noidea,

you should watch the movie "Traffic Signal", such scams are prevalent in all parts of Mumbai. Pilgrimage, sickness, forgot wallet and what-not!!

I have personally seen a guy tring to get hit by a vehicle so that they can claim money from the vehicle owner (Murbad road - on way to Malshej Ghat)

Also I think you have copy pasted the text from MS-Word, hence the formatting is a little different. I made the same mistake couple of days earlier, its best to type directly into the typing window of this website to prevent this.

[rahul4640]

Gentlemen,
Day before yesterday I was returning from Darjeeling. Shortly before Kurseong town my car was stopped by a group of few men, some of them even wearing khaki dresses. I was asked that I had to pay one hundred rupees as it was mandatory as per some new government regulation. They also handed me this receipt.

One person pasted this paper on the front windscreen of my car and told me that it was valid for three months. Unfortunately it was not a sticker. It was only a piece of paper pasted with gum, which was washed away in the heavy shower yesterday, when I was returning to Calcutta from Siliguri.

I did not get down from my car and see what they did on the back of my car. But shortly afterward I could see that they had pasted these two reflective materials (one red and one green) on the back of my car. I am sure even these two will not last long and shall go when I shall give my car a thorough water wash for cleaning.

Any information whether this an official job? Had anyone ever come across these reflectors or had bothered to pay for them?
Warm regards,
Rahul Biswas,
Calcutta.

[MotoNanu]

Here, check this out!

It is quite an old piece of news, though still effective

[mayankk]

There is not one official name in all of the above.
there was something from 2005 in this news piece about this:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050328/ldh1.htm