In Nepal, mountain guides provoked "mountain sickness" in tourists to enrich themselves
According to an investigation by Nepal's Central Bureau of Investigation, this refers to a complex and fairly widespread fraud scheme that may have operated in the region of the world's highest mountain — Everest. Guides, helicopter pilots, medics, and even administrative staff of clinics were allegedly involved. The goal was to receive money from insurance companies through fictitious rescue operations, writes Daily Mail.
The main idea of the scheme is to create a life-threatening condition in a tourist to trigger a helicopter evacuation. Real symptoms of mountain sickness (headache, weakness, oxygen deficiency) were used as a pretext for manipulation. Moreover, instead of ordinary help (rest, descent, water), some tourists could be intentionally "pushed" towards a worsening of their condition.
The investigation describes several mechanisms. In one scenario, tourists who were already tired and did not want to walk for long could be persuaded to feign a serious health problem to call a helicopter. In another — even more disturbing — people could be intentionally given substances (e.g., medications or other additives) that caused unpleasant symptoms. There are even reports of a case where a substance that caused physical malaise was added to food.
Next, the subsequent part of the scheme was activated: calling a helicopter, transporting the "victim" to a hospital, and processing an insurance claim. Documents could be falsified: fake reports were drawn up, including invented services, or even using signatures of doctors who were not involved in the treatment. Sometimes, reports indicated that the patient received help, although in reality, they might have been in a completely different location at that time.
A peculiarity of the scheme is that it could exploit insurance rules: helicopter transport and rescue operations are very expensive, and it was on this that profits were made. In some cases, a single flight could be accounted for as serving several separate patients, further increasing the amounts of payouts.
According to investigators, hundreds of such cases may have been identified over several years, and total losses are estimated at millions of dollars. As a result, authorities have launched a criminal investigation and arrested some participants, including representatives of helicopter companies and medical institutions.
It is also noted that the problem existed previously, but despite attempts by authorities to strengthen control, it may have continued due to insufficient punishment and oversight. Now, Nepali authorities are trying to strengthen measures to stop such schemes and make mountain treks safer and more transparent.
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