All of us have in our lives, as permanent fixtures, some people who have this facile power to irritate the most tolerant of us with their constant, sheer idiocy. If one such person merecifully vanishes from the scene for some reason, before a sigh of relief is expelled by you, inexplicably the void is instantly filled with another of equal calibre or better, as if this presence is an essential concomittant for us and a blessing. One such specimen got my goat recently, doing something phenomenally stupid, well beyond even his own known limit when I was online, looking for something. In performance reports, that would have rated `Far Exceeded Expectations'! While I was peeved and distracted in the extreme, I was also meddling with a digital order, in response to an attractive ad for roasted, peri-peri pistachios -- an avoidable mistake, as it would transpire. Because I was not paying adequate attention, I ended up placing an order impulsively, without checking the antecedents of the seller. As it turned out, it was a `clothing company' selling pistachios cheap!!
When I discovered that, my reaction was a disgusted `why on earth did I buy pistachios from a clothing company'?? The amount involved was small, so I did not panic. I also realised subsequently that they were promising to deliver one kilogram of pistachios for a ridiculous amount in three days - another screaming clue I did not latch on to, only because I was not paying attention. Then I had this epiphany -- that I have been had and I will see no pistachios for the small amount paid because it was a scam. The amount involved was pittance, but the blow delivered to the solar plexus of my self-esteem was lethal. Like many of my cohorts, I have always prided myself on the impregnability of my defence mechanism against fraudulent pitfalls of all hues and it pained to accept that this one hoodwinked me, getting through a chink in my armour when I was negligent. The lesson for all of us is, the moment you drop your guard even a bit, somebody is waiting in the wings to get through and hurt you as much as possible. The onus is on each one of us, we the people, to exercise extreme caution while dealing with situations involving payments, orders etc online, especially when transacting with unknown outlets and platforms.
Of late, there has been a deluge of reports about digital/online cheating of hapless individuals by fraudsters, who have honed their craft skillfully and can execute a plan flawlessly. In some cases, the amounts involved are huge, running in multiple crores. The targets are chosen after careful profiling - - generally seniors, with good savings in the bank, living reasonably well, probably living alone without the support of children/relatives. Or greedy guys, who are willing to cut corners in life for advancement on any front. A recent case involving a retired banker saw him being duped of Rs.23 crores through what has come to be known as Digital Arrest (DA). If you analyse the cases even superficially, it becomes apparent that either the victims had panicked and had failed to exercise reasonable care and precaution because they were obviously put under tremendous pressure by the culprits. Or the poor souls were made to believe they have something to hide, that they have committed some crime like tax violation, drug distribution, money laundering etc and authorities were on to them. Either way, while it is charitable to say that people were bulldozed into helping fraudsters to dupe them, the fact remains they omitted to probably exercise their normal level of caution and their behaviour betrayed a lack of application of mind. This is not to rub salt into raw wounds, but to pinpoint the fundamental issues involved. I am not into preaching normally, so please take on board the following as friendly observations and suggestions.
It is not uncommon to see a senior at an ATM, who probably cannot see well and/or has forgotten his specs at home, looking a bit lost and for help to withdraw some cash. I have helped some and such elders do not hesitate to give a stranger the card and the PIN, if he/she is decently dressed and speaks English well. Once this act of benevolent trusting is done, it is upto the helper to exploit the situation and get richer by a few hundreds or thousands of rupees, if he/she is a crook. Such child-like faith in aliens appearing on the scene as God-sent angels in times of desperation is the most common reason for eventual distress. More often than not, it is the security guard at the ATM, who performs the auxiliary role and is probably safe because he is associated with the bank in some way. Unfortunately if it happens to be a crook, lurking around in the hope of snaring an unsuspecting victim, the senior lives to rue his mistake. What can one do?? Either choose somebody well known who you trust completely, send him with the card and PIN to the ATM to withdraw cash. Or use the special facility banks have for seniors to have cash sent home under a specific procedure.
While online (dont go browsing unnecessarily and get lured into providing information to anyone) for a specific requirement, it is critical to ensure that only well-known companies and websites/platforms are used for execution of transactions. If one goes on a digital fishing expedition needlessly, one might come to grief because there are many ways tricksters extract `useful' information from unsuspecting people, eventually to dupe them. Why walk into such situations?? Avoid all such pitfalls, where your vulnerability can be exploited by sharks waiting for a prey. And if possible, use mobile phones only as an instrument for communication and not as a medium for payment etc. It is entirely possible that any payment you want to make can wait till you reach home and your laptop or desktop, which are safer to some extent.
Regarding Digital Arrest, there is no reason for a common man to walk into a trap based on a phone call, unless he has some nasty skeletons in his cupboard. Otherwise, if someone pays his taxes, has never been involved in shenanigans like money laundering etc why be afraid of someone pretending to be a Policeman threatening you with arrest and agree to part with portions of your savings? Begin with the belief that the person at the other end is a fraudster and disconnect immediately. Report to authorities forthwith, after consulting friends, if you can. Request help from others you trust, who can understand the situation better and put safeguards for you in place, despite all the threats from the alien on the phone. I realise it is easier to advise in this context than actually confront the situation head-on, but then there is no other way to escape the horrible punishment of losing money and nursing an almost permanent wound on your psyche??
Coming back to the pistachios order, my dear wife sniggered and said I deserved the bite on my backside for wanting to buy whatever makes an appearance on the net, just because I think I am a smart shopper. I am trying to assuage my guilt as well as the feeling of being a nincompoop by asking the bank to cancel the credit card transaction and rejecting the benefit of funds for the fraudsters!! Something face-saving, my dear wife says with a smile, still far from convinced!!
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