$285 million gone: Drift Protocol breached and more

Fake illnesses fuel $20 million Mount Everest insurance scam

Nepalese authorities uncovered a large-scale insurance fraud linked to trekking expeditions near Mount Everest, alleging that guides and other tourism operators orchestrated fake medical emergencies to profit from helicopter rescues. According to investigators, the scheme involved deliberately making trekkers appear seriously ill or exaggerating mild altitude-related symptoms to justify costly air evacuations. In some cases, guides were accused of tampering with food or administering substances that caused stomach distress or resembled symptoms of altitude sickness.

Once guides staged an “emergency,” helicopters transported trekkers to hospitals, where they created fraudulent medical records and filed insurance claims. Officials say the racket also involved helicopter operators and hospital staff, who allegedly helped inflate or falsify invoices, sometimes billing insurers for individual flights even when multiple people shared a single helicopter. Authorities in Nepal charged 32 people in the scheme, which generated an estimated $20 million in fraudulent insurance payouts and affected thousands of foreign trekkers.