I honestly don’t see an end to scammers unless the government actually does something or Acknowledge that there is a problem but that’s easier said than done
I got involved in a scam just like this in Goa. Made friends with some locals and they asked us to do exactly what Karl was talking about after we had dinner and watched movies together over a few days. I felt like something wasn’t right and I typed in gem scam Goa in to Google while we were talking and saw all these posts so I changed the subject and got out of there quickly. I felt sad as I really wanted to make friends with locals. Such is life as a tourist in India
Luckily you trusted your gut, Well done. It is so disappointing because we all want to trust people. Hopefully it didn't ruin your experience completely.
Bro not everyone is scammers not everyone is false here Let me tell you one thing whenever you will come next to india just meet me if possible In kolkata i will show you real true india As yes I also love to make some real friends of different cultures so to understand there culture. Love from India 🇮🇳🥰
Why did u agree to help them ditching government from its taxes. Tax evasion is crime and you were abetting a crime. You committed a crime long before you got scammed, so It is jail not sympathy you deserve right now.
Karl you are just too good. Thanks for making even the Indians here aware of such scams! Keep the great work going. I hope you do some food vlogs along with the things you are already doing!
Mr. Rock. I'm your fan from the Philippines. Please continue to expose scammers in India so that they will eradicate immediatly and to protect foreigners against these worthless scammers. Thank you and have a great day. 😁
To answer your question , the ashram is now a part of the national Park which is direct around, so it's not allowed to build something there and they use the entrance fee as a donation for the park... Love your channel. Cheers!
@@KarlRock Well they are in a way, they have turned it into an open air museum. I think the fact that it hasn't been renovated is a lot of it's charm. It brings you right back 60 years in time.
@@KarlRock It does seem a shame, it is not like India is lacking space for national parks, purely from a $$$ perspective (never mind the cultural history) you would imagine they would turn it into something, in the UK if someone in the Beatles even used the toilet there they have signs to advertise it LOL...ish ;)
The land for the ashram was leased to Maharishi Yogi which was originally part of Rajaji National park. Once the lease period got over, the trustees were not willing to extend it any further and the forest department was also reluctant because of shrinking land area of the National Park. This area is very rich in terms of wildlife, Elephants and Deers can be seen roaming around.
I think I had a almost scam just like this when I went to India in 2016. They wanted me to sell shoes for them back home. But I don't have any business back home so I said no but they keep asking me. My friend in India told me its a scam and I didn't understand until now. Thanks Karl..
Hey Karl, I live in Rawalpindi and am from Kashmir. When you come over soon, I’d love to take you around and show you the rush that is Raja bazaar, or the majestic views of Kashmir Point (or Neelum in Kashmir, the prettiest of all)
Domi Travels what would happen if u didn’t “sending the package” then when the “customs officer” saying u have to pay I would like to say I haven’t even sent it so I’ll just give it back and yeet the heck out there
@@spiritupgrades nope ! that is a really good series , it talks about the scammers you know and the place Jamtara is the scam capital of India . Try it.
The British was harsh but the country actually ran better under colonial rule than it does now. Though I suspect that's in large part due to the fact that India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are all artificial states formed after a bunch of disparate kingdoms and principalities were all mashed together into one entity. Wouldn't be surprised if "India" doesn't exist in a century and instead is replaced by a few smaller nations.
Hi Karl, I am from just outside Liverpool so as you can imagine the Beatles are popular here, my understanding is that George stayed there for sometime and Ringo stayed a little longer too, the wife element is new to me but if you say it Karl it must be true :) …. I had a man approach me on the beach in Goa saying he was from the Himalaya and was trying to sell me "precious" stones that he found in the river there, the funny thing was he tried selling me a worthless stone that by pure fluke I knew was native to Brazil so told him to pee off :)
Today I was targeted by this scam. I was just chilling on a bench in Rishikesh and then I was approached by two guys. At first it was a nice we had a good conversation then we had lunch together. Then they mention that they have a gem business and they wanted a European contact to send gems to avoid import tax. Immediately I confronted them that I know it's a scam and they then left 😅. Luckily I've seen this video in the past to be aware of the whole scam. Thanks Karl!
This happned to me in Old Manali. They were super friendly and nice! I had 2 really nice days with thoose guys! If I remember right, the name of the "boss" was Samir, a short guy with long hair. After a couple of days they presented this scam to me, my first thought was like "Wow, I will do it!" Samir had a japanese girlfriend, that said that she had done this 3 times. She was really uncomfortable when she told me, but than I thought it was to good to be true, so I said no. Samir got really angry with me, than I understood that it was all a scam and I left... I met another guy that they tried to scam in goa, same guy (Samir) So they operate in Manali in summer time, and Goa in vinter time. They offered me 5.000 euro. In the end, they bought everything for me during 2 days. So win win for me :D
I have been in India the past month with my partner and our daughter (her first time), it s our 5th year in a row visiting this magical eye opening jaw dropping country, I have seen all Karls vlogs and been a subscriber since the start of Karls vlogs, just binge watched all the ones I had missed since the start of January, great night Ive had 🙏
Why do you like India so much? I am an Indian American and I wouldn't go back to India. But I don't understand why so many white folks like to go to India.
Great video Karl, these scammers are the scum of the earth keep fighting them and showing them for what they are. I don't understand how they get away with what they do. They make Indians look bad but they are not like these scammers. These scammers should be thrown in prison and never let out. Thank you for showing us around this beautiful place it's beautiful and looks so calming and peaceful.
Good to see the Ashram tidied up, it was badly overgrown when İ went around 12 yrs ago...had to sneak in through a hole in the wall! then some random Indian guy claiming to be the gardener...which was amusing due to the fact it was an overgrown jungle!..anyway, was fascinating and quıte spooky....shame the guru had wandering hands! Naughty Sadie!! Great vid as always Karl ;o)
This almost happened to me in Candolim / Goa. The guy "worked" on me for a whole day, even spent dinner and invited me to his house to meet his "family". Once inside the house there was no "family" but a bunch of 20-25 year old guys (about 8-10) who were all overly friendly to me. They explained the same thing to me, that they would like to send gems to England but they can´t since Indian nationals are not allowed to bla bla. I thought it was a joke and asked if anyone ever did something like that. They let me speak to a girl on the phone who claimed that she was dutch (I am German). To this day I can not tell if the person on the phone was dutch but she def was a foreigner and into this scam aswell. As I declined the guys became suddenly unpleasant. Suddenly I realized that this was a scam and I´m in a room with a couple of other guys. No one knew I was there. This time I felt like sh§$%ing my pants. I just left, sat on my scooter and drove as fast as I can. Funny thing, I saw the guy who worked as a bait a couple of days later "working" on another foreigner.
9:07 But... there isn't a point-of-sale system in the world that requires actual money to change hands in order print a receipt out. How on Earth do people not know this?
The Maharishi stopped using the ashram during the 1970s. With the lease having expired in 1981, the land was reclaimed by the government in the mid 1990s as part of what is now Rajaji Tiger Reserve. The former ashram then fell into disrepair, as a result of vandalism and the encroachment of the jungle.
It was like a story time video and I really enjoyed it...the way he's showing you the whole place along with telling you about the scam... and being an Indian... I didn't knew about all this myself... Damn! Our country is getting dirty by these scammers and rapists out there... 😞
Hey Karl, the gem scam happened with me in Kathmandu. I did not play along with them, it was a too good to be true offer. I was thinking about it many times where is the catch, but never figured it out. Thanks, you have solved a long forgotten mystery in my life and helped to refresh some good memories. Keep up the good work!
Yesterday I saw two pink boys. May be they are from England. They were struggling to get into the right bus. I volunteered to help and they said 'we're good mate' and again they struggled for about 2 more hours and they even didn't take help from other locals too. I'm guessing all this is because they think all the locals are scammers. This is pathetic
@@pedropunjabi7339 that's what karl's videos do. They only show the negative side of India. I fucking hate this guy. Now he's going to turn this into a series
WOAH! Now these are REAL scams. I feel so bad for that poor lady who lost 40,000 euros, that's insane. These are on a completely different level to those trivial street scams/commission touts.
I nearly got roped into this scam about ten years back when I was backpacking in India for a couple of months - while passing through Goa, to be precise. Luckily the whole deal seemed far too weird and risky for me and I declined, but this was after something like three days of grooming on their part. I guess I was young and naive, but they seemed genuinely friendly and approachable, so they did a damned fine job of the social part of this - I guess I'm just lucky to be too neurotic to gamble on anything like this. Just how scammy this was dawned on me pretty quickly when they suddenly stopped answering their phones or replying to texts immediately after I said no. A couple of details differed from the accounts in the video, though: they wanted a copy of my passport ("for safety reasons") which freaked me out quite a bit, as did the fact that they had a whole binder full of similar copies of other people's passports. They also (obviously, in hindsight) asked if I wanted to call and talk to any of their previous "helpers" to confirm how safe the endeavour was. They also invited me to their house when they presented me with the "offer", which in hindsight was a clever way of increasing the social pressure to accept. IIRC they were "exporting" jewelery and not gems, though, and I seem to remember them wanting me to bring them with me rather than mail them, which makes me wonder how the second part of the scam would have worked in that case - but it might be that my memory is off there. Oh, and they showed me (obviously faked) paperwork of how Norwegian store chains were buying these jewels from them. The scale and degree of localization of the scam was quite honestly stunning. I'm _so_ happy I passed on this "opportunity", though in hindsight I guess going to the police would have been even better.
i got sucked into this. they seemed so friendly and i trusted them. and now i want to report everything to get my money back. but i’m scared i will face troubles if i say that i wanted to import jewellery from india to australia. 60000$ worth. would i be in trouble? even if it was all a scam? should i report it?
They were trying scam me on the same way in Jaipur. It was just beginning, like come to my shop, see gems, maybe we can make some business. They start talking about sending to Europe, so i immediately leave this shop.
Hey Karl, Beatles visited maharishi, and I proudly studied in the school which he built for 10 years, his values and ethics still continue in my school... Would be great if you visited in Chennai to get a great insight.
I almost fell for this scam in Katmandu, Nepal. Just like you described. To gain my trust they let me stay in a nice hotel, payed for my food and took me to parties. A few days later on our way to the postal office I pulled out.
What an elaborate scam ! Thanks for the explanation !! Good advice regarding not entering into business deals with people you just met, and not carrying stuff for people overseas. I think these scams and many others rely on the fact that greed and fear are very powerful emotions and can override people's normal judgement.
I've been to this place a couple of times.. i did my architectural documentary as well. i think this asham is now getting converted into a music museum.
Maharishi left the ashram in the 70s. The land is now part of the Rajaji National Park and the govt hasn't been able to decide what to do there. The artwork etc has mainly been contributed by students and some artists and has only been present for the last 5 years or so. Many of the kutias and even larger buildings aren't structurally sound hence the lack of tourists.
It is such a terrible tragedy that the river is so clean at the start and just gets more and more polluted as it goes. I think the worst part is, they just don't care how polluted it gets.
Karl thanks for showing a piece of Indian history. I would have never known about this site. You have gotta try art of living courses though .. start with the happiness course and take it from there.
"Even when my friends ask me to carry stuff overseas, I always open the package and check what exactly is in that package." I wish I'd watched this video before swallowing those half-dozen condoms my new friends gave me. If you can't trust people you meet in airport bathrooms, who can you trust? Anyway, off to find a good laxative.
Yes please do the fake guru video, hopefully long and deep, with some Rock-style investigative youtuberism! :D no seriously, cant wait for yr thoughts on the topic. Long live THE (Karl) ROCK!
Love your videos Karl. I hope you can be back in India soon. It’s a joy to see you walking around in so many places I’ve visited; I did not have a camera with me when I lived in India, so it’s nice to see these spots again
Hi Karl, I just subscribed to your channel, although I have been watching your vids for a long time. India is a country I hope to visit soon, but seeing how many scammers are roaming around, I am having second thoughts. But I know it's a must visit and your videos have given me an insight into all the goods and the bads of the country. Will make it that way soon!
At least this is one channel that you will be guaranteed to never see raid shadow legends or those ray con things. I'm personally not religious but, Bless you dude!
This just happened to me in Fort Kochi! The pitch came today and it felt too dodgy to go forward, but it was strange because we had spent time together - thanks for this video confirming my suspicions!
I worked in commercial property in Sussex. We sold a large house in Hove, Sussex on behalf of the maharishi vidic clinic. The rooms were all let out to people studying and some rooms were wall to wall with bed mattresses. Very simple living conditions, shared kitchen etc. Everyone in the building was super nice, chilled and was a very relaxed environment.
I've been thorough this scam, but I stubbornly insisted that they use their money. I told them the only way I'll go with it was for them to transfer their money to me & I'll use that money to make the "purchase". In the end, they didn't want to do the "business".
Excellent video as always Karl. I totally get the heights thing - I have the same issue and cannot go in glass sided lifts, amongst other things. Vertigo sucks! I remember the whole Maharishi thing and how he ended up being discredited. And talking of scams, I was not surprised to hear that most of the victims are women (and I'm betting they were western women). Western women seem to be a target for this type of scam and it's not only in India. I know of two young women from here in the UK who have very recently been scammed by holiday"romances" where the "boyfriend" gets the girl or her family to sponsor a travel visa and then end up using it as a platform for claiming asylum here in UK. I have a very good idea why women from the west are susceptible to this kind of thing, but not enough space to go into it here! Despite scams (and they happen everywhere in the world), how beautiful is Rishikesh and the Ganga! Jai Hind!
The true source of this problem is the greed by the women in this case. The opportunity of gaining this money to deliver the gems without asking why am I benefiting so much money in completing a friendly request “favor”. The scammers took advantages of the women by playing into their greed. Everything else after the initial agreement seems to be an honest lesson learned. This was a good vid! 🙏🏼
