The scandalous investigation is taking place in the immigration service of Indonesia. The injured tourist revealed a new technique of customs officials, with the help of which they began to demand bribes from tourists. As the victim stated in an interview with local media, the customs officer tried to demand from him an astronomical amount of 600,000,000 local rupees or almost $6.3 thousand, but as a result, the tourist had to part with $430.
What is the tourist’s fault? As the injured tourist from Taiwan said, after arriving on vacation, he was stopped by an official while he was standing in line for customs declarations in the arrivals hall. He was charged with taking pictures in line, which the officer said led to an on-the-spot fine of 600,000,000 Indonesian rupiah – about $6,300. The tourist admitted that he was taking pictures – but, he said, he was filming the queues for the taxi driver “to explain why they were late”.
However, the situation quickly aroused suspicion in the tourist – for two reasons at once. First, he saw that the customs officials tried to pull off the same trick with another tourist from Burma. After that, the Taiwanese were taken to a separate room to discuss the fine, where the customs officer began to bargain, which further convinced the tourist that it was a scam. As a result, he paid $430 to get out of there – after which he told his story to the Taiwanese media and contacted the authorities.
“It seems that this is a massive fraud and they are profiting from tourists. Taiwanese officials should help tourists who find themselves in a similar situation,” the tourist urged.
Let us remind you that Ukrainians are also familiar with customs fraud. Thus, “long-term” tourists in Thailand who practice “visa ran” have already become a “cash cow” for Thai border guards. The mechanism, as explained by the victims, is simple – tourists are released from Thailand – in this case, to Malaysia – but the Thai border guards refuse to put return entry stamps, claiming that border-run schemes are prohibited, but tourists are hinted, a bribe will solve the problem. As the injured tourist stated, as a result, the new stamp cost her 800 baht (about UAH 850) per person – the couple had to complain that, they say, they had almost no money left. For other “victims”, the amount of the bribe reached 16,000 hryvnias per person or about 15,000 baht.