Post: #26

I'm sure you guys would be jealous but nearly 10 years ago, when I was renting scooters all over South East Asia, never saw a cop on the road nor was pulled over. But I was a little frightened at all the soldiers in Laos (who looked worse equipped than militias in USA). So this trend of police trying to exploit foreigners must had happened within the last 5 years on a mass scale (maybe they get the idea from reading the social media of crooked police).


But these days I don't really bother with driving. I just don't seem to enjoy it.

Post: #27

(11-30-2018 07:04 PM)chrisblackbeard Wrote:  Great thread

South East Asia
Same story for every country except Malaysia and Singapore. The classic international drivers licence checkpoints. However, unlike many of the guys here, I NEVER once paid.

My strategy was to simply put my phone in my shirt pocket, and then tell the officers nicely "by the way, I was taking some video of me riding here, and my phone may still be recording". They think for a minute, then always let me go. Worked 100% of the time.

I talked to some ballsy Expats who say they don't even stop, and the cops never care enough to pursue.

I don't know if I'd rely on this in a more violent shithole, like Africa or South America, but for SEA it worked.

I don't doubt that this can work a lot of the time, but its a high risk strategy. I saw an Aussie guy trying this exact trick in Thailand and the cop just grabbed the phone out of the Aussie's pocket and took it. Doubt he ever got that back. Better to pay a $10 bribe than have a $500 phone "confiscated".

Post: #28

I once had to bribe airport security in Manila with a carton of cigarettes to get onto a flight to Bangkok, you can read that full story here, part one is on the first page of that thread, it was a crazy few days.

-One time in Medellin I was pulled over by machine gun toting police while riding in a taxi leaving a gang infested drug ghetto, the cops do this all of the time, I was likely set up after buying the dope. They searched me and found the goods, a quarter ounce of cocaine and five fat blunts (about $35 jajaja) then proceeded to give me a lecture about how dangerous this was. I was already drinking heavily and sniffing rails all night so was fucked up, I was on my way back to a hotel to party with a buddy and two skanks when this happened. After the lecture which included threats of having me deported, the cop said we can make this problem go away for $35 (100.000 pesos), so I gave him the cash and he told me ok you can go now. As I sat back in the taxi, the cop handed me back all of my drugs, only in Colombia!

-Another time in Colombia our night bus from Cali to Medellin (8hours) was pulled over and my retard non Spanish speaking ginger Canuck buddy didn't have any ID, he left it in Cali as we were going back in a few days. So the cops pulled us off the bus, threatened to detain him (near Manizales, in the middle of nowhere at 3am) and even searched our bags, in which they almost found our weed stash, the cop literally had it in his hand at one point! It was two weeks before Christmas so they were looking for easy cash. They started high and I eventually got them down to $50 or so, fuckers. It took about a half an hour and the people on the bus were looking at us like "WTF are these dick head gringos doing?"

Those were all instances where I just wanted to end the problem quickly and was willing to spend a few bucks to do so, I don't lose sleep over $25-50 which is generally what you'll play in a place like Colombia.

I agree to stash your cash in different locations, cards too (best not to have one on you) because the cops are known to take guys to ATMs.

NEVER let the situation escalate to you going to the police station, it'll only get worse because now you're dealing with superiors who may not be willing to take a bribe or if they are, it'll be much more costly.

Always be mindful of the situation when dealing with cops, if it's one then you're ok to bring up the subject but if it's two or especially more then it could be complicated as some cops don't want to be seen as corrupt in front of their colleagues so if you can separate one of them to mention it, that's better.

I once heard a guy say that a threat to call your embassy can work well, which is probably true for the US guys.

Post: #29

Colombia usually more times than not you can bribe your way out. Just keep a smile and let them know your not gonna get rattled. I am often stopped for ID and never had issues.

Few friends that came down acting like Gringos out of sex prison have been fleeced for small amounts of drugs which at that time was legal for personal consumption (President Duque has reversed that law now).

My most concerning case happened in Venezuela a few years back. I was solo and did my best hiding down in the back seat of my taxi. We came to an Army checkpoint which is normal in Venezuela. Once the guards saw my Gringo face we were promptly waved over to the side of the road.

They pulled me from the taxi emptying my bag and searching me top to bottom. Then the head guy a 21 yrs old kid at best, took me to the holding jail at the checkpoint. Starting telling me I was in big trouble as an Americano in Venezuela. He pulled out his handcuffs put them on the desk and told me he would hate to use these on me and how could we work this out so I could enjoy my vacation. All I had was a $10 dollar bill hidden in the back of my cell phone case and a half melted candy bar.

You would of thought he hit the lottery. 10 dollars USD on the black market probably was 2 months salary for him.

He escorted me back to the taxi and was asking me about Baseball and various Venezuelan major leaguers. That was the only time in the past few years I was really ready to get on a plane out of a country. I was even searched on the tarmac getting on my plane....not worth the headaches visiting Venezuela.

Post: #30

(12-01-2018 12:27 PM)scotian Wrote:  I once had to bribe airport security in Manila with a carton of cigarettes to get onto a flight to Bangkok, you can read that full story here, part one is on the first page of that thread, it was a crazy few days.

Oh god yea, your stories on Manila's airport sound crazy. There used to be a bullet scam over there too a couple years after you wrote your carton story where people had to pay airport security a bribe to not put in false charges. Manila airport has to be the worst and the most unorganized, poorly designed airport I dealt with in my travels. The island airports are actually a lot better when I thought they'd be worse. But in Manila and Cebu, you need to have your baggage organized. At the time I was booking 5-6 flights at a time traveling around, not doing a good job keeping track of the baggage rules and if I paid in advance. One I thought I did from Manila to Puerto Princesa. The girl at the desk claimed I didn't. I was fuming at the time but couldn't prove I did, she's still the only local I ever really yelled at there because I lost my temper. Throughout my time in that country, I really tried my best not to yell at locals if they messed up because I know Filipinos don't respond to that well. That was the one time I ignored this, dealing with airlines.

Anyway, I was pretty mad but I slammed my credit card on the table to pay for the $50-60 bag fee. I had a Filipina traveling with me at the time going to the island. She really helped calmed me down about the whole thing because despite me being heated, she had a surprisingly calm presence about her that allowed me to just accept it, move on, and go enjoy my trip to the island. I left the country a few weeks later via Cebu and was more prepared for baggage issues that time, so I made room in my backpack and moved half my shit in there to reduce the fee to $20.

Post: #31

(12-01-2018 11:03 AM)zatara Wrote:  

(11-30-2018 07:04 PM)chrisblackbeard Wrote:  Great thread

South East Asia
Same story for every country except Malaysia and Singapore. The classic international drivers licence checkpoints. However, unlike many of the guys here, I NEVER once paid.

My strategy was to simply put my phone in my shirt pocket, and then tell the officers nicely "by the way, I was taking some video of me riding here, and my phone may still be recording". They think for a minute, then always let me go. Worked 100% of the time.

I talked to some ballsy Expats who say they don't even stop, and the cops never care enough to pursue.

I don't know if I'd rely on this in a more violent shithole, like Africa or South America, but for SEA it worked.

I don't doubt that this can work a lot of the time, but its a high risk strategy. I saw an Aussie guy trying this exact trick in Thailand and the cop just grabbed the phone out of the Aussie's pocket and took it. Doubt he ever got that back. Better to pay a $10 bribe than have a $500 phone "confiscated".

Yeah exactly, in a lot of countries taking photos or videos of police or their vehicles is a crime and will get you in even more trouble. I think this could be a very risky strategy

Post: #32

(12-01-2018 01:37 PM)yankeetravels Wrote:  

(12-01-2018 12:27 PM)scotian Wrote:  I once had to bribe airport security in Manila with a carton of cigarettes to get onto a flight to Bangkok, you can read that full story here, part one is on the first page of that thread, it was a crazy few days.

Oh god yea, your stories on Manila's airport sound crazy. There used to be a bullet scam over there too a couple years after you wrote your carton story where people had to pay airport security a bribe to not put in false charges. Manila airport has to be the worst and the most unorganized, poorly designed airport I dealt with in my travels.

Yeah that fucking bullet scam, I heard a lot about it when I was in the phils.

I can't imagine the accusation going very far though, when googling "manila bullet scam" brings back 200k search results. I am guessing that maybe it would escalate to the complicit corrupt manager of the corrupt guy trying to extort you and then no further.

Like Scotian mentioned above, sometimes a threat to call the US embassy gets you out of these situations.

I've even made up shit like that I am a US Diplomat and that I will call my "on the ground lawyer & security team" to come "assist me" in the situation. Obviously be careful when saying these things, but it has worked before.

Another #protip: whenever you travel to a new country specially in the third world it's a good idea to store the local emergency number of your country's embassy. If you do end up in jail somehow, your country's embassies may be able to get you out and assist you. Have the numbers ready saved in your phone or even written down and in your wallet.

Post: #33

So long as he isn't killed or assassinated - Duterte will probably fix most of the safety issues regarding the Philippines. Just 1 year in office supposedly led to a crime reduction of 20% - 50% in most places. So 5 years of Duterte will probably mean a whole different country.


The bullet scam thing - sure it happened but I think 2+ million people were going to the Philippines each year before 2015 (when the scam got busted) and statistically most of them probably did fine.

You have that Family-Guy real life Jewish stereotype of Drew Binsky who supposedly did 25 trips to Philippines without getting getting shot. But I think Drew wasn't seeing ladyboys or prostitutes or getting super drunk at sleazy expat bars.

Post: #34

I've seen it mentioned here a few times. The best thing you can do is have friends/girls in other countries, it's a part of the reason I stay in hostels for at least a day or two when I travel. In my experience I've been saved quite a bit by some random people I had just met in clubs in taxis, everywhere.

Anyways I'm in PY in South America. I've been driving for a while with no problems. I've been pulled over three times, they have police checkpoints. First two times I pass my drivers license and they wave us through. The third time Its a breathalyzer so i take the test. im not drunk so i expect no problems. This time however the officer looks a little longer and tells me and my girl my license is expired. He hands it back and yep it's been expired for like five months. I think we'll get a ticket and move on but this guy is out to get me. While he's explaining some other cop takes a picture. Don't ask why but I'm not allowed to drive, strictly prohibited. My girl knows this so she asks what they took a picture for and the cops says it's standard protocol. She knows that picture is bad and tells them to delete it, they reiterate it's protocol.

They tell us to step out of the car and hand us the fine which is about 175 USD or 800 mil guaranies. If not they'll take the car. We're in the middle of nowhere, why the fuck would I have that much money on me? I've never heard of paying a fine on the spot but whatever.

I start pleading in broken spanish with the guy to let us take the car to my house to get at least half of the money. My girl is backing me up saying I'm American bla bla blah. The dude starts mocking my bad spanish and tells me he can't understand. He asks me why I'm talking like that. I tell "sir you know I'm not fluent in your language." He says he knows. I reiterate we are in the middle of nowhere it's my girls car can she take us to get a part of the money just to get her car back. I tell him what I'm doing in his country and show him my documents and they act like they don't give a fuck. "I know I know." Then he line for line quotes the law about licenses. These guys are right of course I'm in the wrong but I've never heard of cops taking your car if you can't pay a full fine at 12 am at night? Only in the 3rd world... plus it's my girls car and she has a license. I am in the wrong so I give up on that and decide to plead with them to erase the picture. A picture would really fuck everything up for me. The cop says, "this picture will be posted in every database and all over the country lfor everyone to see. Everyone will see your picture." I try to plead with another officer and they shoo me away saying, "go talk to my boss."

I start back talking to the jefe and he says, "Back up! Why are you talking to me like that? Who do you think you are!? Oh now you're trying to bribe me!? (I only understood the back up part) he tells me he doesn't want to talk to me anymore and to go away, he only wants to talk to my girl. I've been in this country for a while and that's the second time I've been visibly upset. Probably the first time in front of my girl. There's nothing more humiliating and frustrating then not being able to communicate fluently everything that you want to say. This along with the dickhead officer had me ready to do some dumb shit. My girl comes over to calm me down and pleads with me to go sit in the car (this girl really saved my ass.)

Anyways she comes back after like thirty minutes and tells me everything is okay. They told her she can pay the fine later. She told me she went over and started crying. "These guys can't handle when I cry. I should win an oscar. I told them you're here helping in my country and if the picture gets out It'll ruin your life. I'll never forgive myself if I ruin his life. I'm the one who asked him to drive!" She made up some bullshit about me being a doctor helping sick children and teaching english. She said the cop softened up after that. She even got them to delete the photo which was my main problem.

She asked me if I understood everything that happened. She told me he thought I was bribing him. She said that he had told me to go back to my country. She said he was mocking my bad spanish. She told me when she was by herself he asked who I was and why she was with a foreigner. She asked me why would he ask that? Why was it his business. She said he said i probably had a wife and thats why i didnt want my picture taken. She then told me he hated Americans and that's why he was such a dick. She's like if my uncle the politician wasn't in jail I would've called him and he would've lost his job immediately. She continued to curse this cop for thirty more minutes as we drove home and the next day as well saying she didn't like how he talked to me.

I told her to remember I'm from the USA and I probably wouldve been dead had it been there haha.

Tldr: get some foreign friends or keep a girl with you

Post: #35

Quote:It's Americans that are mostly into the "Greasing Palms" thing. I only do it when it's absolutely necessary, otherwise I get what I want by being nice, polite and friendly

Plot Twist: "Friendly" involves sucky-sucky

Post: #36

I never faced a situation of extortion in my years on the road. I do hand out small amounts to bouncers and bartenders in places i frequent. If things go south I want them to give me the benefit of the doubt.

If police bribing is common I havw small bills on me. In more dangerous cities of Brazil i sometimes give a bit to homeless that might get violent.

I also flirt with every woman that is working in the places I visit. They know me, warn me about potential problems and plead my case if needed.

Post: #37

Passing in through Port Moresby (new Guinea) airport customs got hit up for the "import customs fee" on my 3 year old work laptop at gunpoint. $300

When I got the ridiculous bill for one drink at a dodgy bar in Manila I had a little argument over the price, before I had a shotgun pointed at my head and they insisted I pay. $20 (yeah risking a itchy trigger for $20 was stupid)

I never get done by the roadblocks in Thailand, I only ever show them my Aussie license (which has motorbike), always wear a helmet and always yell at them if they go for a bribe. Never had dramas.
Some of the more experienced expats ride past without stopping yelling at them to fuck off, which is a bit brave I think, but I've seen them do it, and they never bother with them. More trouble than it's worth, they would rather get the easy cash of the scared tourists.

Post: #38

Moscow 2018

A friend lives permanently in Moscow and drives a car with non-Russian plates (which he told me managed to get into Russia without paying customs, just bribing a small amount of money at the border!).

I was visiting my friend in Moscow. One day we woke up and my friend's plates were missing. Nothing else was stolen just the plates missing from the car! There was a note saying 'call this number if you want your plates back'.

My man calls the number and starts swearing in Russian 'give me back my plates you cunt' (something similar in Russian).

Voice on the phone says 'First of all please dont swear at me this is my job Secondly transfer 10.000 Rubles to this account to get your plates back' (Russians have this instant-transfer banking app everyone uses).

We had to pay the money cause my buddy's car was not properly registered when it entered Russia, and couldn't pay for issue of new plates.

After transferring the money the guy texted us a location, we went there, we dug into the ground (seriously) and found the plates.

We gave the phone number to the police and told them what happened, they declined to do anything.

Post: #39

Dude that's not a bribe, you just got extorted

Post: #40

Notice how almost all the stories here involve driving.

Best way to avoid cops in any country 3rd or 1st world or anywhere in between is just don't get behind the wheel, or if you're in an island in thailand or indonesia and its unavoidable avoid getting behind the scooter as much as possible, especially at night.

Cars and scooters are cop magnets. Only once in my life did a cop stop me while walking (stop and frisk in Rio de Janeiro).

Post: #41

(11-30-2018 04:12 AM)TwinTurbo Wrote:  

(11-29-2018 03:03 PM)LINUX Wrote:  I had a man try to rob me in Colombia. I was having a bad day so I chose to fight. After an ambulance came for him, It left me having to pay the cops $100 to avoid the paperwork that could possibly get my visa revoked. It was my word against his.

That dude got fucking owned. Are you fucking rambo or something?

That's what I thought, both good and bad. It's best to avoid fights, if possible. I'll post my experience in the travel forum.

Post: #42

(12-03-2018 05:57 AM)floridaboiii Wrote:  I've seen it mentioned here a few times. The best thing you can do is have friends/girls in other countries, it's a part of the reason I stay in hostels for at least a day or two when I travel. In my experience I've been saved quite a bit by some random people I had just met in clubs in taxis, everywhere.

Anyways I'm in PY in South America. I've been driving for a while with no problems. I've been pulled over three times, they have police checkpoints. First two times I pass my drivers license and they wave us through. The third time Its a breathalyzer so i take the test. im not drunk so i expect no problems. This time however the officer looks a little longer and tells me and my girl my license is expired. He hands it back and yep it's been expired for like five months. I think we'll get a ticket and move on but this guy is out to get me. While he's explaining some other cop takes a picture. Don't ask why but I'm not allowed to drive, strictly prohibited. My girl knows this so she asks what they took a picture for and the cops says it's standard protocol. She knows that picture is bad and tells them to delete it, they reiterate it's protocol.

They tell us to step out of the car and hand us the fine which is about 175 USD or 800 mil guaranies. If not they'll take the car. We're in the middle of nowhere, why the fuck would I have that much money on me? I've never heard of paying a fine on the spot but whatever.

I start pleading in broken spanish with the guy to let us take the car to my house to get at least half of the money. My girl is backing me up saying I'm American bla bla blah. The dude starts mocking my bad spanish and tells me he can't understand. He asks me why I'm talking like that. I tell "sir you know I'm not fluent in your language." He says he knows. I reiterate we are in the middle of nowhere it's my girls car can she take us to get a part of the money just to get her car back. I tell him what I'm doing in his country and show him my documents and they act like they don't give a fuck. "I know I know." Then he line for line quotes the law about licenses. These guys are right of course I'm in the wrong but I've never heard of cops taking your car if you can't pay a full fine at 12 am at night? Only in the 3rd world... plus it's my girls car and she has a license. I am in the wrong so I give up on that and decide to plead with them to erase the picture. A picture would really fuck everything up for me. The cop says, "this picture will be posted in every database and all over the country lfor everyone to see. Everyone will see your picture." I try to plead with another officer and they shoo me away saying, "go talk to my boss."

I start back talking to the jefe and he says, "Back up! Why are you talking to me like that? Who do you think you are!? Oh now you're trying to bribe me!? (I only understood the back up part) he tells me he doesn't want to talk to me anymore and to go away, he only wants to talk to my girl. I've been in this country for a while and that's the second time I've been visibly upset. Probably the first time in front of my girl. There's nothing more humiliating and frustrating then not being able to communicate fluently everything that you want to say. This along with the dickhead officer had me ready to do some dumb shit. My girl comes over to calm me down and pleads with me to go sit in the car (this girl really saved my ass.)

Anyways she comes back after like thirty minutes and tells me everything is okay. They told her she can pay the fine later. She told me she went over and started crying. "These guys can't handle when I cry. I should win an oscar. I told them you're here helping in my country and if the picture gets out It'll ruin your life. I'll never forgive myself if I ruin his life. I'm the one who asked him to drive!" She made up some bullshit about me being a doctor helping sick children and teaching english. She said the cop softened up after that. She even got them to delete the photo which was my main problem.

She asked me if I understood everything that happened. She told me he thought I was bribing him. She said that he had told me to go back to my country. She said he was mocking my bad spanish. She told me when she was by herself he asked who I was and why she was with a foreigner. She asked me why would he ask that? Why was it his business. She said he said i probably had a wife and thats why i didnt want my picture taken. She then told me he hated Americans and that's why he was such a dick. She's like if my uncle the politician wasn't in jail I would've called him and he would've lost his job immediately. She continued to curse this cop for thirty more minutes as we drove home and the next day as well saying she didn't like how he talked to me.

I told her to remember I'm from the USA and I probably wouldve been dead had it been there haha.

Tldr: get some foreign friends or keep a girl with you

OP, whatever you leaving out of the story is probably crucial to understanding it. Especially the shit about the picture and not being allowed to drive... I have my suspicions.