NRI Visa Scam BOM DEL CCU MAD

vasco802

A caution to all NRI's leaving for US or other destinations via all 4 major airports in India. The scam: after going thru immigration prior to boarding your flight some travellers have found that their visa page for US or other destinations discretly torn from the passport, according to Midday, Mumbai newspaper. All travellers please be extra careful and check all documents. After leaving immigration desk. The immigation officials use this to extort money from passengers.

edwardseco

An oldy but a goody, good reason to keep alert in processing, inward and outward..

Mickey S

Has anyone actually experienced this scam first-hand, or known it happen to someone of their immediate acquaintance? Or is it just one of those urban myths that turns up on IndiaMike every 6 months or so?

skk

I know what you mean, man. The OP didn't post a link but I found the Mid-day article
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2008/aug...n-Airports.htm
So, the OP passes the first smell test for what's called "afwaa" in Marathi.

Reading the article, the actual story fails these smell tests:
1. says it happened to his brother - its ALWAYS someone else isn't it.
2. says the guy's brother started a blog - I can't find the blog.
3. discreet tearing out of a page ? WTF ? I'm deeply sceptical that this can be done, I've been through immigration so many times, you can SEE what's happening. But, I've learnt there are quite a few innocents abroad, so perhaps a 1/2 fail then.
4. The whole scam structure is odd - the time length between the start of the scam - it starts on the day the page is torn out - to the day of payoff, which is on the reentry back to India which could be many months, even years, since these are 10 year multple entry visas seems way too much to me. Scam artists aren't known for patience, I mean, that's why they ARE scam artists - they want the easy payoff.
5. There's no guarantee that the guy who tore out the page is the guy who mans the desk for incoming passengers. This would have to be quite some multi-airport, multi-person ring..

I've analysed this enough for my needs. In a word, BOLLOCKS !

-skk

Mickey S

I've read that article three times and still do not understand what the actual "scam" is.

It suggests that officials are tearing US visas out of passports... so why does that provide an opportunity to make some money when the traveller returns to India? And in the specific case it mentions, the traveller was still able to enter the US because "most digits of the visa number were still clearly visible" - how can that be, if the page had been torn out?

This particular passage makes no sense to me:On what grounds can this passenger be detained?

Oh, and here's a link to a previous IndiaMike thread discussing this very same scam in 2005: passport scam by customs,police etc. And prior to that in 2003: Passport Scam - Mumbai & Delhi. This one's being doing the rounds for a while.

Haylo

Sounds harsh if it was posted in good faith, but to be honest, that was my reaction too.

For some reason, perfectly rational friends of mine think it's a good idea to email me this sort of stuff without checking on Snopes et al. These are people who would not believe a similar story if told to them by a stranger in a pub, but for some reason it coming from a friend seems to give these things some validity.

As Barnum did NOT actually say: "There's one born every minute"

By the way, did you know that if you have eaten raan in the last three to four days prior to flying, the drugs sniffer dogs will eat your passport?

skk

Way cool(for great input to the busting of these utter crap urban legends- it just makes MY interactions with bureaucrats worse if they feel that the great unwashed think this of them, in the aggregate, that's why I get mad )..

Oh Mickey, you're so fine,
You're so fine, you blow my mind, Hey Mickey! Hey Mickey!


http://noolmusic.com/youtube_videos/...usic_video.php



-skk

Brisso

errm ... if the US visa was removed, how could the NRI enter the US and even so, how would this be an offence when re-entering india??

GoanCanuck

Yeah I know this scam seems absurd to me.

capt_mahajan

Defacement of a passport- or passport with a missing page or two, will create problems.

Though the missing US visa thing is absurd, yes, particularly since many airlines will confirm at check in that you have a valid one. They often take a photocopy too.

And this scam is supposed to happen soon after checkin, so one can imagine it is traceable.