Media exposes fraudulent helicopter rescue operation in Nepal

(SeaPRwire) –   Himalayan trek tour guides are alleged to have defrauded a number of insurance companies based in the UK and Australia, according to reports.   

A number of tour guides operating in Nepal ran an illicit fake helicopter rescue scheme to swindle insurance providers in Australia and the United Kingdom, The Kathmandu Post has reported. 

Investigations carried out by the outlet found that the guides first staged a medical crisis, called for a helicopter, and admitted tourists to a hospital.

An insurance claim would then be submitted, which left foreign insurers, most of which operate out of Australia and the UK, struggling to verify incidents that were claimed to have taken place at altitudes of 3,000 meters above sea level in remote Himalayan areas, per the report.

The newspaper first released an investigative report on the alleged scam in 2019. While Nepalese authorities did not take immediate action on the claims, the Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) reopened the case in 2025 and found the fraudulent practice is widespread.

Per the report, the CIB probe uncovered two tactics the guides used to fabricate emergency situations.

The first tactic involved tourists who did not want to hike back down from high-altitude locations. After an Everest Base Camp trek, which can take up to two weeks to complete on foot, the scammers persuaded tourists unwilling to make the return journey to feign illness. They were then transported back via helicopter.

For the second method, guides took advantage of mild, common altitude sickness symptoms, then informed tourists that only an immediate evacuation could save their lives.

The guides also carried multiple tourists on a single helicopter, while sending separate invoices to each passenger’s insurance provider that presented the trip as a dedicated, single-passenger flight, inflating standard $4,000 claims to as much as $12,000, the report stated.

Medical staff working in collusion with scammers drafted discharge summaries using the digital signatures of senior doctors, while also creating fake hospital admission records.

Official investigators found that 4,782 foreign nationals were treated at local hospitals as part of the scam between 2022 and 2025. A number of hospitals that received millions in funds linked to the scam have also been identified, according to the report.

On March 12, the CIB filed charges against 32 people for offenses against the state and took nine of them into custody. The remaining suspects are believed to have fled and remain at large.