Show HN: Bribes.fyi – Know before you go. New feature added

https://bribes.fyi/before-you-go

Comments

helterskelterJul 25, 2026, 7:55 PM
Once you get outside the first world brides seem to be the norm -- every person I know who does international work has a story about having to bride somebody, especially if you need to get something through customs quickly, or at all. It's funny, you just make a bare effort to make it seem official and they'll get you right through.

One guy would keep cash in a hidden pocket in his suitcase and if customs gave him trouble he'd politely inform them about the pocket they didn't check and everything would get resolved.

Another guy would be bringing in parts for his company and when things got held up he'd talk to the person of the appropriate rank and offer to pay the "expedited" fee to get things through, as these were very important pieces of equipment. There was no expedited fee.

Somebody else would literally just sneak them cash as they shook the custom officer's hand, but they had a working relationship and knew each other on a first name basis.

One person got pissed off and refused to pay a bride and literally just waited until they changed shifts and his stuff was released.

helterskelterJul 25, 2026, 8:25 PM
Forgot to add, there was one customs officer in $SMALLCOUNTRY who used to take bribes from somebody I knew, but was transferred to the taxation department. The person I knew died, but I found out through one of his coworkers that the former customs officer resolved a SNAFU with some tax paperwork that was about to turn into a very expensive disaster. He didn't even expect payment, he just wanted to do right by the person who had seriously bolstered his income for years, he was even asking about the guy's family how they were doing after his passing.
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:10 PM
[flagged]
9devJul 25, 2026, 7:34 PM
Good lord, that this is necessary is so depressing.
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 7:36 PM
Yeah, man, depressing yet the truth.
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 8:36 PM
This got flagged, not sure exactly why, but I'm just trying to keep things transparent and keep the site running. Wasn't trying to spam anything, just sharing the updates as they came. Requesting the mod to look into it.
karagenitJul 25, 2026, 10:09 PM
It’s a cool site and you don’t seem to be spamming. But your account is new and has only posted links to your site (4 times) which probably caught the automated spam detection system. I’d gently encourage you to engage with the community and share some things that aren’t your own work as well. From the guidelines:

> Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity.

neverenderrJul 26, 2026, 9:02 PM
I didn't know about the guidelines; I will keep these in mind, and thank you.
zuzululuJul 26, 2026, 7:00 PM
I think some people didn't like the contents of the website. I had no idea corruption and bribery was this common India and I guess some people didn't like to advertise it which honestly doesn't really matter as expectation is quite low already
neverenderrJul 26, 2026, 9:04 PM
Yeah, that makes sense, and yes, corruption is very common in India, but I am just trying to make things better.
tallanvorJul 25, 2026, 7:45 PM
Why do you feel the need to submit this 4 times over 1 week?
mtlynchJul 25, 2026, 8:49 PM
Reposting is officially allowed:

> Are reposts ok?

> If a story has not had significant attention in the last year or so, a small number of reposts is ok. Otherwise we bury reposts as duplicates.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

While we're on the subject of following site guidelines:

> Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

enraged_camelJul 25, 2026, 7:49 PM
It's a cool site. I like the concept a lot.

With HN, often times things have to be submitted multiple times before they get noticed and "stick" and generate interesting discussions. It's very dependent on luck, and there are no rules against it AFAIK (aside from what the spam detector flags).

tallanvorJul 25, 2026, 7:55 PM
Rules generally come around due to bad behavior, which I would suggest submitting the same thing every other day for a week constitutes. It's also a very niche topic, even for this site, and not particularly useful or interesting.
enraged_camelJul 25, 2026, 8:12 PM
You are not the arbiter of what is useful or interesting. India is a massive country and this site has a lot of Indian users.
lostericJul 25, 2026, 7:40 PM
this is just crowd sourced data? Looks vibe coded. And immediately asking for donations for a short Claude job, pretty sus?
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:13 PM
[flagged]
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:03 PM
Thanks for unflagging the post. Replying to everyone now; there are a lot of comments, so it might take a bit to get through them all.
derektankJul 25, 2026, 7:35 PM
Just curious, but did any specific anti-corruption campaigns from history in other nations inspire the design here at all?
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:16 PM
[dead]
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 7:28 PM
Direct homepage - https://bribes.fyi/
philajanJul 25, 2026, 7:37 PM
Just wanted to let you know Twitter, GH, and RSS icons fall behind the nav bar at least on mobile.
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:16 PM
Yeah, I'm aware of that. I'm just thinking about what to do with those.
pstuartJul 25, 2026, 7:39 PM
I'm glad that bribery only exists in India and not in the United State. /s because Poe.
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:28 PM
Ha, no such exclusivity claimed here, just built for the country I actually know the system for.
dark-starJul 25, 2026, 7:34 PM
What happens to you in India when you are charged builty of bribery? What are the punishments, if any? (for the person receiving the bribe, not the person bribing, obviously)
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:24 PM
Honestly, haven't looked into the legal side in detail. I'm mostly just providing the data (what happened, where), not the legal outcomes. That part's outside what I've built so far.
dark-starJul 26, 2026, 11:29 AM
Are you not worried that your site might lead to those people being executed (either legally, no idea if that's a thing in India, or illegaly)?
neverenderrJul 26, 2026, 9:06 PM
Everything is anonymous.
ExoristosJul 25, 2026, 7:26 PM
What are the differences between a bribe and a tip, given X cultural milieu?
gnfargblJul 25, 2026, 7:38 PM
Public servants should neither ask for nor expect either?
ExoristosJul 25, 2026, 9:28 PM
What is the cultural context for this assertion?
woadwarrior01Jul 25, 2026, 7:39 PM
aka Baksheesh in the Middle East
oplavJul 25, 2026, 7:40 PM
Another discussion about corruption in India from 2019: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20088870
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:26 PM
I will look into it, thanks.
qwertyuiop_Jul 25, 2026, 9:42 PM
Bribe is a symptom not cause of low trust society.
neverenderrJul 26, 2026, 9:07 PM
Fair, the actual disease is the trust deficit; this is just trying to make one symptom of it visible and measurable.
zuzululuJul 25, 2026, 7:35 PM
need one for southeast asian countries and eastern europe
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:30 PM
Would love to, honestly, but realistically can't take that on right now — money- and time-wise, keeping this one country's version running is already stretching things. Good idea though.
ckrapuJul 25, 2026, 7:09 PM
If it is satire, bravo.

If sincere, congratulations.

neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 7:10 PM
It is sincere, btw, thanks.
tyreJul 25, 2026, 7:30 PM
What do you think lend itself to this culture and how will it change? Is it considered normal / unsurprising / accepted? Like, “just cost of doing business”?
ImHereToVoteJul 25, 2026, 7:35 PM
A cultural revolution.
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 7:38 PM
Just trying my best.
toomuchtodoJul 25, 2026, 7:34 PM
> how will it change

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-corruption_campaign_under... is a potential example

micromacrofootJul 25, 2026, 7:33 PM
tracking and publicizing them is a great start, bribes are easy to ask for in a fractured bureaucracy where the people taking them aren't closely monitored and the people paying them are generally uninformed
antonvsJul 25, 2026, 7:34 PM
Where do you live? Because “this culture” now exists at the top level of the US government, for example. And in fact, even before the current administration, it was an accepted and legal aspect of government, for example “lobbyists” who handed out checks to the representatives whose influence they were controlling.

In the US, it’s only at much lower levels that this is at all frowned on, especially in government. In private business you’ll still find e.g. apartment managers asking for bribes to do their job properly.

verve_ratJul 25, 2026, 7:41 PM
And if you squint a bit and stretch some definitions... then tipping culture isn't a million miles away from bribing culture.

What is a tip if it's not a bribe to not spit in your food?

CyberdogJul 25, 2026, 7:57 PM
Former foodservice worker (in the US) for several years here. Servers do not spit in customers' food; that would be psychopathic behavior that no manager would tolerate and grounds for immediate termination, and the type of person who would actually do that is the type of antisocial person who is going to struggle in any job. If a known bad tipper ends up in a server's section, she'll roll her eyes in private, perhaps grumble to her co-workers, then go put on the customer service smile and serve them as normal.

That said, please tip. Note that (where legal) servers are generally paid below minimum wage because it's expected their income will be supplemented with tips. Consider the tip not a bribe but as a payment for a service you were provided which, at least in the current cultural climate, is not being tacked on to the actual bill; you may not like that and want that cultural norm to change, but it hasn't changed yet and is unlikely to in the near future. If tipping really offends you, then order pick-up instead of dining in, or just cook at home.

neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 7:39 PM
[flagged]
lozengeJul 25, 2026, 7:31 PM
Has anybody reported a refusal and managing to complete their task? I just see 0% whatever I input.
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 7:33 PM
Yes, some of them reported refusal reports. You can find them just on the right side of the Transparency map, State Registry Ledger; then you can filter out them by most refusals, or you can also just browse the reports.
iluvcommunismJul 25, 2026, 7:34 PM
[dead]
neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 7:12 PM
Also set up a support link for anyone else who'd like to help keep it running: https://bribes.fyi/support
verve_ratJul 25, 2026, 7:34 PM
I'm a little disappointed that https://bribes.fyi/bribes doesn't redirect to that support page to be honest.

When I saw the name/tag line I thought this would be a travel advice site, but I like this so much more. Great work.

neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:21 PM
Ha, fair, actually did think about making /bribes redirect straight to /support, missed opportunity not shipping it(had second thoughts). And yeah, that line's staying non-negotiable, sorry to disappoint. xD
blitzarJul 25, 2026, 7:41 PM
> Donations don’t influence the data. Supporting the platform buys no special treatment.

How disappointing.

neverenderrJul 25, 2026, 9:22 PM
Hahaha, yeah, figured "pay us and we'll bump your bribe report" probably isn't a great look. Sticking with boring and honest.