
Nepal cracks down on lucrative helicopter rescue scams - tosh
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/nepal-cracks-down-on-multimillion-dollar-helicopter-rescue-scams
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sulam
The article is vague about this, but from the context it seems like the scams
are people going to base camp, not summit teams. A trek to Everest Base Camp
is strenuous, but it's obviously nowhere near as risky or expensive as joining
a summit expedition. They should not be conflated.

People paying $500 (or even $1000) should not have any illusion that they're
going to summit, but they still need travelers insurance and they may still
have medical difficulties related to altitude or just connected with the
nature of the trek. You'd have the same risks hiking the John Muir Trail in
the Sierras.

There is one exception to this, which is that low-budget teams with a permit
will sometimes self-support from base camp but will use a trekking guide to
get them and their gear to base camp. Those people intend to summit and are
just finding the cheapest way onto the mountain. They probably aren't going to
bail at the first headache, though.

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vwcx
NYT has much more context on the scam:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/world/asia/nepal-
everest-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/world/asia/nepal-everest-
rescue-fraud.html)

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overcast
Food being spiked?! You're already paying a fortune to climb Everest, and now
you can't even trust the people working for you. Horrible people everywhere.

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kardos
This is simply the ugly side of unrestrained capitalism

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folli
How would any other system prevent this?

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lostlogin
Enforce the regulations by dealing with the ‘unrestrained’ bit. These scams
aren’t present in all countries, copy their practices.

~~~
whatshisface
This isn't a problem with capitalism, all you would need would be a right-of-
contract combined with a "you agree not to poison me" clause (I say this
facetiously, nobody should have to specify that). Still, many of what people
call problems with capitalism are really problems with anarchy.

~~~
scottydelta
Generally, I would agree but try suing someone over breach of contract in
Nepal and India(Nepal is worse than India in this regard), they will laugh at
you. The judiciary system is totally messed up to an extent that it has cost
people their lively hood, here are few recent examples from India to give you
a glimpse of how terrible it might be in Nepal:

1\. Guy gets falsely accused of harassment, faces social media justice and the
complainant hasn't shown up in court for 3 years even a single time, the case
is stuck since court keeps assigning a new date for hearing waiting for the
complainant to show up:

[https://theprint.in/governance/this-delhi-man-was-called-
a-p...](https://theprint.in/governance/this-delhi-man-was-called-a-pervert-in-
viral-post-3-years-ago-and-hes-still-stuck-there/113879/)

2\. A kid is killed by a fellow student and Police pins murder on the bus
conductor by torturing him and making him confess to the murder:

[https://www.thequint.com/news/india/gurugram-school-
murder-d...](https://www.thequint.com/news/india/gurugram-school-murder-
driver-ashok-kumar-life)

~~~
whatshisface
That sounds like a problem with anarchy to me. Capitalism has nothing to do
with it, the government is failing to maintain lawful order.

~~~
scottydelta
Exactly, these countries haven't seen capitalism yet. I misread your previous
comment thinking you were suggesting a contract would work, sorry.

