Influencers Set Up Fake Toll Booth, Collect Toll: Show How Easy It Is To Fool People [Video]
People in India are generally very cooperative and do not question the authorities too much. As a result, when they are asked to pay unnecessary taxes and tolls, they do so without any verification. Recently, showing how easy it is to fool vehicle owners in India, an influencer and his friends managed to set up a fake toll booth in the middle of a random road. They even started collecting toll tax from these unsuspecting drivers to demonstrate that people in India can be forced to pay money for things that are not even genuine.
People Stop and Pay at a Fake Toll Booth
This social experiment video, showing how the public in India gets compelled to pay because of the fear of authorities, has been shared on Instagram. It comes courtesy of Experiment King. The video starts with drone footage showing the fake toll booth setup done by a group of people in the middle of a random road. It can be seen that a manual black-and-yellow barrier with a stop sign was placed on the road.
There is also a small office booth that has been set up on the side of the road to make this booth look legitimate. The video then shows that a few men were standing at the toll gate and stopping cars to collect money. In the clip, the first car that gets stopped is a Maruti Suzuki Eeco minivan.
Now, what's funny about this video is that instead of taking money, the influencers were actually handing out money to these car owners. We can note that the Maruti Suzuki Eeco driver hands over a ₹50 note to the toll collection person. However, in return, he was given a ₹100 note.
Following this, another car driver gets stopped by these people, and instead of taking money from him, he was directly handed a ₹100 note by those conducting the social experiment. The video then goes on to show that these people let a veterinary ambulance with a cow in the back drive past the booth.
Towards the end, the scene changes from day to night, and a Mahindra Bolero camper vehicle can be seen being stopped at the fake toll booth. This time, a person wearing a reflective vest acts as an official and searches the vehicle. It can be noted that the unsuspecting driver and co-driver both comply with this search without questioning anything.
How to Identify and Avoid Fake Toll Booths?
The above video, as mentioned, is a social experiment to show that people can easily pay money at fake toll booths. So, it is very important for vehicle owners to know how to identify and avoid paying money at fake toll booths across India. To determine whether a toll booth is real or fake, make sure to check for signage mentioning NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) or the name of a state authority.
Apart from these, you have to check if the toll booth has uniformed personnel, CCTV cameras, and digital payment options like FASTag. Generally, fake toll booths operate using cash so that they cannot be traced. So, if you ever come across such fake toll booths, the first thing you have to do is report them to the nearest police station. And if you are being forced to pay, you can pay to avoid conflict and then lodge a complaint regarding it.