Mumbai is famous for the Gateway of India behind me
but it's also famous for a sympathy scam.
People from the streets.. they come up to you and they ask you to buy them milk, rice and oil.
So they can feed their family or feed their little kids they're holding.
But it's all a sham because they just go and they resell that food straightaway.
And it is quite expensive. It can cost you up to 1500 rupees to buy those three items for them.
And basically it's business for them. I've seen them operating.
So let's go and fish a few of them out so you can see how to avoid this when you're in India.
Scammer: Baby milk. Karl: What do you want? Baby milk? Scammer: Yeah. Karl: No no.
Fan: I see your videos.
Karl: What?
Scammer: Buy milk for baby. Karl: You want what? Scammer: Food. Karl: Food, milk?
Karl: For what?
Karl: Eh? i don't understand. Scammer: Buy milk for baby. Karl: Oh.
Karl: Eh? Rice?
Karl: Where?
Driver: Sir, you want taxi? Karl: No, I'm okay. Thank you.
Karl: You want rice? For eating? Woman: Yes, anything to eat.
Karl: Oh so the baby can eat? Scammer: Yes. For my small children, buy food.
I eat. Karl: So you can eat? Okay. Sure.
How much is the rice?
Okay.
And where are you from? Scammer: I'm from Gujarat.
Karl: Eh. Scammer: Gujarat. Karl: Gujarat. Okay. Nice.
Scammer: What's your name? Karl: My name is Karl.
Karl: Eh, you have these tattoos on your hands, right? Scammer: Yes, tattoo.
Karl: It's interesting. It's nice.
Okay.
Scammer: See this one rice.
Karl: Oh, this one's rice.
This one is rice. Okay.
Big bag of rice there.
There's one, two and three.
All three things? Scammer: Yes.
Karl: Okay, I'll get the rice. This is rice? Scammer: Yes, this is rice. Karl: Okay.
Nun: These people cheat you all very badly.
Yes. They cheat you very very badly.
Nun: What's she asking from you? Karl: Rice.
Nun: Don't give her that expensive rice. Karl: Okay.
Nun: There is another rice. Karl: Yeah.
Karl: Yeah, yeah. I know.
Karl: It's okay. Let it be. Let it be. Thank you. Nun: Yeah, but these people cheat you all huh? Be careful.
Karl: I understand so...
So I'm just going along with it right now.
Nun: Why don't you go to Prem Dan? Karl: Prem Dan?
Nun: Prem Dan is a NGO which is run by the nuns.
And her granddaughter, both the granddaughters, we are educating.
One is in Holy Name and another child is in..
Both the grandchildren, we are educating. Karl: I understand. I understand.
I know what's gonna happen. She's gonna resell.
Nun: So what happens you know.. you must go through the proper channel.
So these people just tell you do this, do this and then they take you for the round.
Karl: I understand. Nun: Yes.
Karl: Thank you so much. Thank you for your help. Nun: Yes. Nun is there
Karl: Oh, lady is crazy, eh? Scammer: Yes. Crazy. Karl: Crazy lady.
Scammer: Can you buy oil? Buy oil.
Karl: Oil as well? Scammer: Yeah. Karl: Oh no. Just this. Come on. Let's go.
This is good. Scammer: Buy milk. Karl: This is good. Scammer: Milk?
Karl: No. No milk. We've got rice. This is a big bag of rice to me. So much rice for you.
Scammer: Also buy milk? Karl: No. No milk. We got enough rice.
It's like, how many kgs of rice? 5 kgs of rice. Scammer: 5 kgs.
Also buy oil.. cooking oil. Oil in rice cooking. Karl: Oil, yeah.
Scammer: You want to buy oil? Oil.
Karl: Oh no. No. No oil. No oil. This is enough.
Hi, how are you? Cashier: How are you? Karl: Hi.
Scammer: You see this much milk. This much milk.
Karl: Oh you want milk?
No no no. We have rice so that's it. Thank you.
Scammer: So you going to Prem Dan? Karl: No, I'm not going to Prem Dan. What is Prem Dan? I don't know.
Scammer: So that lady is crazy. Karl: Crazy lady.
Scammer: Crazy lady. Karl: Absolutely.
Scammer: Crazy lady and also people crazy.
Why.. telling why why. Karl: Mean lady. I don't trust her. It's okay. Scammer: Yes.
Karl: Thank you.
No. No maps for me, buddy. I know India. Been to nearly every single state.
Cool, eh?
Karl: Uh, no worry. No worry. Bye.
Man: Nice kurta, brother. Don't buy this. Karl: Thank you so much.
Karl: Hi there. Manager: Yes? Karl: You speak English, eh? Manager: Yes, yes.
Karl: There's some people outside and they bringing foreigners in here.
And they're asking foreigners to buy rice, oil and milk. Manager: Yes.
Karl: What is happening? What are they doing/ What's the reason?
What do they.. do they resell it afterwards? Manager: They resell it.
Karl: Okay. So it's a little bit of a discount and they resell it. Manager: Yes.
Karl: Yeah. They better donate to charity, maybe.
Not buying that 5 liter cans of oil. Karl: yeah. Manager: Very expensive.
Karl: Yeah. So they just sell that and get the money. Where do they sell it? Do you know?
Manager: Nearby shop. Local shop. Karl: Thank you sir.
Bye!
How was that? The entire family was operating the scam.
The mum, the daughter.. their kids were being used to gain sympathy.
And I found the husband. He was just watching over the entire operation.
This is just a business for them.
And they're at it every single day here.
And Mumbai, if you want to help these people, donate to a charity.
That's the best way to know that your money.. you know, that it's going to help the right people.
And my subscribers that I bumped into.. that was hilarious you guys.
Six or seven people I met while I was filming this scam video.
It's getting really hard to do this now.
And that sister, who tried to help.. tried to get me out of that scam..
That is "Guest is God"(athiti devo bhava). That is Indians butting in to help foreign guests.
So thank you to her. But you know I was filming this scam video so...
I just went. I pretended she's crazy and just went along with the rest of the video shoot.
And if you're coming to India soon,
I've got a quick start safety guide available in indiasurvivalguide.com
If you had read that already, you would have known about this scam.
So go check it out.. indiasurvivalguide.com. Jai Hind!