Fake toll plaza operates for over a year, scamming motorists out of millions

[pesco]

Originally published at: Fake toll plaza operates for over a year, scamming motorists out of millions | Boing Boing

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[jake0748]

Somebody’s gotta go back and get a shitload o dimes!

[rocketpj]

Perhaps a 0% chance some local cops weren’t involved.

[geoduck]

Yeah, so who finally blew the whistle? Someone didn’t get their cut?

[apenzott]

Had to be 3rd world country, since COVID has obliterated (nearly) all human interactions on toll collections in the US.

[snigs]

Toll Booth in Blazing Saddles

[Alvin_Goodman]

“Your donation is simply a suggestion”

DRIVER ESCAPE ROAD ROBBERY [DASH CAM]

[Doctor_Faustus]

@pesco

According to Financial Express, police “said that the accused used to stop vehicles and force them to use the makeshift toll plazas they set up instead of the one operated by an authorised operator on a national highway.”

They “created bypass roads through WHTPL premises on the east of the NHAI toll plaza and through Vaghasia village west of the toll plaza, diverted vehicles to these bypass roads and extorted toll tax from vehicle drivers who took the bypasses.”

So it’s not so much fake toll booths as unauthorised roads with lower toll than the official ones.

That said, as soon as I saw the headline, I knew this had to be in India. Nowhere else can you run such a huge and elaborate scam

[sdmikev]

I came here hoping this would be the first comment.

[Tanya_V_Tumane]

How did they force the drivers to use the bypasses?

[Gryphon]

The fake toll booth has been running long enough to show up on Google Maps.

[beauwillamson]

“Scamming motorists out of Less than they would have paid going through the official tollbooth”?

[hecep]

This story sounds very much like something you’d come across in the oeuvre of Chelm jokes.

[SmilingDemon]

[Kilkrazy]

There’s a toll bridge on the upper Thames near where I live which has operated since the 18th century and still charges the same toll – a Shilling (5p in New Money) – per car. (Originally it was per carriage.)

They basically shut down during Covid because of the risk of all those 5p pieces transferring infection. Now the attendance of an operator is sporadic.

Obviously the cost of the bridge was paid off at least 100 years ago, so maybe the “operators” I see sometimes at the weekend are an enterprising local lad collecting the 5p coins for his own benefit.

If so, I’m glad to contribute!

[Alvin_Goodman]

Oh, that shack looks really legit!

Thanks for that link, I wandered around there a bit, curious how the toll & bypass works and stumbled upon a business just up the road.

Precision-Engineered Industrial Solutions in India.

The site itself looks well-made, their products … I’m assuming are tiles… because the descriptions are filled with business synergy buzzwords and not much else (warning - slight maker/LEGO/ideas tingle may be experienced).

Old-world techniques, modern business styles… people wonder how the toll-booth can operate? I would say India is full of enterprise, two great examples next to each other.

[CLamb]

Why can’t we have private discount toll booths in the USA?