It's an oldie but a goodie…. the 'poop on the shoe' scam. It's been going for more than 20 years, which just proves that despite almost legendary status among travelers in India, it's still a lucrative little operation!
It goes like this: Travelers arrive in New Delhi, India – perhaps first-timers, jet-lagged, a little disoriented. They go for a walk to Connaught Place, climb the stairs to the central plaza.
Then a man will suddenly appear beside them "Sir, there is s... on your shoe!". The tourist looks down, sees a nasty-looking gloop of something on his shoe and, hopefully for the scammer, freaks out.
"Don't worry sir, take your shoe off and I will clean it," he says. "You are lucky, I am a shoe-shine man." Lucky indeed.
Most people at this point, new to the sub-continent, do not ask how much this will cost – they just want that disgusting mess cleaned off. The cost might be a 100-200 rupees(NZ$2-$4) not a big deal to us, but considering that the shoe shine man himself has dropped his special gloop (but not poop) on the shoe himself (usually as the tourist get to the top of the stairs and is looking around to get their bearings) it's money he has not come by honestly.
The deluxe version of this scam involves the shoe-shine man pointing out some loose stitching on the victim's shoe as he cleans. At this point a second man will appear who "fortuitously" happens to be a shoe repairer. The shoe will be quickly handed to him before the hapless tourist can intervene and a further several hundred rupees will be added to the charge.
I have a soft-spot for this scam – not only in a delightful touch is the victim given a piece of cardboard on which to rest his bare or stockinged foot while his shoe is "cleaned" but the whole drama is so ingenious, a small psychological masterpiece preying on new-comers' fears about travel in India, most of which are totally unfounded. I admire it, despite my husband being a "victim" on our first trip to India! We suspect that after we paid up the perpetrator was able to go home and put his feet up for a few days…
Tip: If you get "glooped" don't agree to a clean but maybe give the guy some rupees anyway for sheer inventiveness and audacity!
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