An alleged $20 million insurance scam on Mount Everest saw climbers subjected to staged rescues and admitted to hospitals in Kathmandu as part of a scheme to fraudulently claim insurance money, Nepalese authorities say.
Nepal’s Central Bureau of Investigation said the 10 people arrested in the alleged scheme included members of a trekking company, a rescue society and hospitals in the capital.
The companies involved were accused of falsifying documents presented to Nepalese authorities and insurance companies, as well as falsifying passenger and cargo manifests, Nepal police said in a press release last month. This project has “severely damaged and degraded” Nepal’s international reputation, he adds.
Local media reported that a total of 32 guides have been charged and investigators have identified nearly 4,800 international climbers treated at the hospitals involved between 2022 and 2025.
“Foreign tourists have been systematically defrauded,” the office said.
Bureau spokesperson Shiva Kumar Shrestha said foreign tourists who “endured health problems” while trekking in Nepal’s Himalayan region were specifically targeted.
The Kathmandu Post, which investigated alleged wrongdoing, reported that in one case, an assistant at a hospital in the Nepalese capital allegedly submitted his own year-old X-ray report to support a claim for treatment for foreign hikers, in an attempt to obtain insurance payouts. NBC News has not verified these claims.
The Associated Press reported in February that travel and mountain industry officials had been accused of staging fake rescues on the country’s mountain peaks to defraud international insurance companies of millions of dollars.
At 29,029 feet above sea level, reaching the summit of Mount Everest remains one of the most difficult feats in the world. While about 1,000 people attempt the climb each year, only 7,583 have successfully reached the summit, according to High Adventure Expeditions, a Minnesota-based group that has previously organized Everest climbs.
Rescues and medical incidents are common due to the extreme conditions on Everest and its high altitude, with a a handful of deaths are reported each year.