I suppose we're really talking about both bribery (paying someone to do something you're not entitled to) and extortion (paying someone to not do something they're not entitled do). In some countries, it seems a thin line.

(1) In Almaty, Kazakhstan, three cops came up to me and asked to see my passport. People staying longer than a certain number of days need to register someplace. That amonunt of time had not yet passed, and I wouldn't be staying that long anyways, so I was in the clear. When they saw that I hadn't registered, they made me walk to the place where one should register. As it was closed, they then walked me to a nearby park and decided to make me pay them to go away. I played dumb for a while, to make them spell it out.

They wanted $50. Since I only had twenties, and it is bad form to ask for change when paying extortion, I offered $40 which they accepted.

They were quite young and unarmed. They said that we could instead go to the local jail if I didn't pay -- I wonder what would have happened.

(2) I took a train from St. Petersburg to Tallinn, about a year after the above story. On the Russian side of the border, the border guy woke me up. I hadn't yet filled out my papers (it was unclear which were for the Russians and which for the Estonians), so the guy probably took me for an easy mark.

One item on the departure form asks for the amount of currency you have. I wrote down my best guess. When I handed him the form, he asked me to take out my wallet, and maybe go through my other personal effects, and count all my money in his presence. Of course, the actual amount was absolutely identical to what I filled out. He feined horror and asked why I would fill out an incorrect amount on an official declaration form. He gave me lots of grief and very clearly wanted me to pay him something to go away.

This time, I held my ground. I figured that 1) there was also a woman inspector on the train who probably wasn't in cahoots with him, 2) there were other passengers in my car, and (3) he couldn't hold up an entire train just for me (unless a lot more people than he were also in on this sort of thing). After 10 minutes, he gave up. For a few minutes, I quite seriously contemplated grabbing my luggage (only two light duffel bags), hopping out of the train, and making a dash for the border. I always did want to run across a border.