Industry Odisha Bureau, Aug 17: A B.Tech student from Delhi has created a new online platform, Bribes.fyi. The platform allows Indians to anonymously report instances of bribery in offices.
Notably, the platform was created by Aryan Nishad, a student of Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology. It describes itself as a free, crowd sourced database where people can share experiences of being asked to pay a bribe, including cases where they refused to pay.
The website went live on July 2. Its design and development suggest that Nishad may have used AI-assisted “vibe coding” to build the platform.
How does Bribes.fyi work?
Users can submit a report by providing details such as the government department involved, the amount allegedly demanded and the city where the incident occurred. They can also mention whether they paid the bribe or refused.
The platform says submitting a report takes about a minute. Published reports are anonymised, with identifying details removed, and can then be searched by other users.
One report on the platform, for example, alleges that flat buyers were asked to pay Rs 35,000 each for sale deed registration at a sub-registrar’s office in Bengaluru.
Bribes.fyi currently lists 616 reports from 251 cities. However the platform itself warns that the figures are based on voluntary submissions. They should not be treated as a measure of corruption levels across India.
Further, the platform has received a largely positive response online. Although, questions have also been raised about how individual reports are verified. Bribes.fyi says its verification system is intended to identify recurring patterns when multiple users report seminar experiences involving the same department or office.
