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-   -   Beware of scams by fake Octroi officials (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/133085-beware-scams-fake-octroi-officials.html)

Last Saturday while we were returning from our trip to Karwar and Goa in our new XUV, we were parked at the Ghatkopar link road traffic light as it was red, must have been around 4pm,naturally our XUV last row was packed with bags and suitcases etc., suddenly there appeared this guy, he was neatly dressed with a mobile in his hand he asked me to roll down my window, thinking that he might asking for directions I rolled down my window, what he told me next was shocking, he says I am from the Octroi, I see a lot of stuff in your car and I need to check it, park the vehicle on the side, at that moment the signal had turned green and the traffic ahead had started moving, I just rolled up my glass and started moving, this guy in the mean time called up his colleague or friend whatever who was parked somewhere near the traffic light and gave him my vehicle details, as soon as we crossed the light this guy on the bike started following us waving at us to stop the vehicle, to avoid trouble I slowly pulled over to the side, this guy also tells us that he is from the Octroi and that he needed to check the boot contents, now this guy was holding 2 mobiles and talking on the mobile as well as us, I said to him show me your ID, he says I will, just wait and he continued talking on his mobile informing someone that he had caught someone with a lot of stuff, suspecting something fishy here I told him if you don’t show me your id I am leaving, I rolled up the window and drove off.

I don’t know if anyone else has had this experience, I think this is a scam to rob people of their belongings or take their money by threatening them saying that they have evaded Octroi.

That looked like a scam. If they were real octroi guys, they would have flashed their ID's or atleast they would have followed you.
Is there some Octroi post nearby or are trucks for octroi stopped somewhere around there?

One thing Team-BHP has taught me, never trust anyone on the road stating himself an official without verifying the ID.

We were the only ones stopped no trucks nearby, also the Octroi post is about a kilometer before this traffic signal, I think they were trying to take advantage of that.

As of 2012, octroi is levied in Maharashtra.

However, it is not an easy task to 'Scam' in the name of Octroi. There is a very specific procedure of collection Octroi, just like you pay import duty in the Airports. So, to collect Octroi, they need to produce forms and receipts with value of goods and amount of Octrio applicable+collected.

ssadwelkar, is your vehicle registered in Maharashtra? In Mumbai?

Not able to understand why they singled out your vehicle.

Octroi is collected at city entry points. So the scamsters choosing Ghatkopar is completely weird.

My vehicle is registered in Mumbai, they probably thought they could scam us when they saw all the stuff in the luggage area, tried their luck I guess, anyway why would scamsters stand at checkpoints to scam people?

Hi ssadwelkar,

I am a bit confused as to where you were stopped.

B'cos on the Eastern Express (EE) side the Octroi post is in Mulund on and Airoli link road and within a KM distance there is no Ghatkopar link Rd. On the Vashi side also it is almost 4-5 kms from the Octroi post that you come to the Mankhurd Signal to come to EE highway.

I am trying to pinpoint the area as I travel these roads almost every day to and from work.

Octroi applies to commercial goods, carrying personal stuff across state borders doesn't apply octroi. Also octroi payments happen at octroi nakas as described above, octroi officials cannot stop random vehicles on the road to check for octroi payments. The correct thing to do is to ask for ID verification, if no ID is produced, then one must refuse to open the car door, alight and drive to the nearest police station to complain. I believe the slum dwellers in Govandi must be trying new extortion tricks...

As has been pointed out, there is no octroi post at Ghatkopar, although I have seen these guys waylaying truckers at that point. Therefore, these guys may have been some mobile squad.

I have been chased at least 3 times by the octroi guys - in their official Sumos - from Mulund check post/ toll gate till almost Kanjur Marg - because they thought I was smuggling "something" in my Scorpio!

This happened to me yesterday. I drive daily to Airoli from Mumbai via the Airoli Mulund bridge which is also a octroi checkpoint. I was heading home and was at the Bhandup pumping signal waiting to take a left to the eastern express highway towards Mumbai. A gentleman in a Maruti Eco gets down and approaches my car. He asks me to roll down the window , thinking he needs directions I roll down just enough to talk. He says he is a octroi official and wants to inspect my car and see if any goods are there.

Now my car is a Civic and has a CNG kit fitted. The car has a soft rear suspension and the weight of the kit makes the car droop down a bit. I guess this is why I was approached as this had happened earlier but then I was stopped by a uniformed official so did I not find anything wrong then. Since the guy was not in uniform and we were around a km away from the checkpoint I did not believe that he was a octroi person. He calls another person who is wearing a khaki dress the kind worn by taxi drivers and auto rickshaws and he asks me to open the car. I refuse again and noticing the signal was about to turn green I started to drive away. I noticed that they start running after my car (which seemed quite funny ).

At the corner of the traffic signal I notice two traffic cops and decided that since those ‘octroi’ officials were running behind me I decided to stop next to the cops just to be safe. I ask the traffic constables why these people chasing me, to which they reply that this is a ‘spot’ to check octroi. I let those gentleman inspect the boot but keep arguing I am not carrying anything and that this is a private vehicle and not a goods carrier. To which they replied that it does not matter if it’s a private vehicle. Anyways they were dismayed to find just my laptop bag and a CNG tank in my boot and I decide to leave it there. I think this is plain harassment of drivers. I don’t think I would have stopped if those traffic cops weren’t there. How are people supposed to just open the car doors and let people ‘inspect’ for goods etc at a traffic signal ? I even told those cops that it’s the weight of the CNG tank which makes the car droop down( I have started to hate that CNG) but even they sided with the octroi guys. Anyways I am glad things sorted out and the people I dealt with were mostly legit and it was nothing much serious.

Guess what this is exactly what happened with me at that exact spot on 15th Oct at around 11.30 am. I stay at Airoli and travel to Saki Naka daily for work. Initially I ignored their hand gestures and gently moved ahead and took left towards Mumbai. These guys then came charging in their Maruti Eco and their body language got aggressive. I stopped a little ahead of the nearby bus stop. When I asked them the reason for stopping me, they told me that they had orders to check every Tata Manza passing the octroi post to check for certain objectionable goods. I gave them an earful and told them if they wanted check my car, they should have stopped me at the check post itself and there was no need to chase down on a busy road. I could have lost my concentration while driving. Anyways, for the amount of seriousness they showed in chasing me, they just checked the boot and found my humble Jopasu duster and Coido tyre inflator. :D
They said "sorry saar, upar se order the" and left.

Yes, I do ask for an ID too but how do you verify it. We all know how easy it is to generate a fake ID in India!

:D
And it happened again today but at the checkpost itself so i politely opened the boot and showcased my cng tank and they politely apologised for stopping me again. This time they noted my cars no and promised not to stop me again but lets see.