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If you’ve ever dreamed of one day summiting Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak, you’re going to want to make sure you know a good bit about your tour guides first.
Now, that’s true in any situation. But it’s especially true after a recent investigation revealed that guides taking tourists up and down Everest have allegedly been poisoning climbers’ food to trigger expensive helicopter rescues as part of an over $17 million insurance scam, according to the Kathmandu Post.
As if the idea of freezing to death or falling off the face of a gigantic mountain wasn’t terrifying enough. Now you don’t even know if you can trust your guide!
How Does The Alleged Mt. Everest Scam Work?
If you get stuck on Mt. Everest, even on the lower slopes, there’s only one way out: by helicopter. It is an extremely precarious situation and often a life-saving measure. But it is also very, very expensive.
According to the report, one helicopter often carries multiple passengers. However, multiple invoices are submitted to each passenger’s insurance company. That means a $4,000 helicopter charter can become a $12,000 incurance claim. Helicopter operators will often file fake flight manifests and load sheets.
But the scam doesn’t stop there.
Investigators also found that tablets used to prevent altitude sickness were often administered by guides alongside excessive water intake to induce the very symptoms that would justify a rescue call. In one of the cases, the guide added baking soda in order to make the climbers feel physically unwell.
In another instance, a local hospital worker used his own X-ray, taken about a year prior at a separate hospital, as a cause for treatment to a patient and thus, for billing their insurance.
How Much Money Did They Make Off These Scams?
When you dig into the numbers of the whole racket, they are truly staggering.
According to the report, investigators identified 4,782 foreign patients treated across the implicated hospitals from 2022-2025. While just a relatively small number of cases, 171 (3.6 percent), were confirmed as fake rescues, Era International Hospital received deposits of more than $15.87 million linked to these activities. Meanwhile, Shreedhi International Hospital received over $1.22 million.
And the scam was just as lucrative for the flight companies.
Mountain Rescue Service reportedly conducted 171 fraudulent rescues out of 1,248 total charter flights, claiming approximately $10.31 million from insurers. Nepal Charter Service allegedly conducted 75 fake rescues from 471 flights, claiming $8.2 million, and Everest Experience and Assistance was linked to 71 fraudulent rescues out of 601 total flights, with insurance claims totalling $11.04 million.
Some Climbers Are In On The Scam!
While the matter seems scary enough for prospective Everest climbers as is, it gets even worse when you discover that not all of the climbers are being scammed.
According to the report from the Kathmandu Post, multiple climbers seemingly worked with medical providers and helicopter evacuation companies in tandem as part of the fraud.
One German climber was found to have worked with a pair of providers to deliberately inflate the cost of a helicopter rescue and medical services, only to later ask for a refund when she was “accidentally” double-billed for the services, and insurance had already paid.
Which is all to say, if you’re planning on climbing Mt. Everest at any point soon, not only do you need to prepare for the physicality of the climb itself, you also want to do extensive research on your guides and the companies they work for.