Hey, friends! Today I saved my so-called uncle from being a victim of a fraud. I really felt like sharing this incident with everyone because with each passing day more and more people are moving towards digital transactions. They are saying no to paper money and doing most of the transactions online. The reason is its ease and convenience. But as Spidey’s uncle told him – “With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility”, we all must obey. The more power we have of making transactions from anywhere, more we need to become responsible towards it.
A Call from the Bank
Today my uncle received a call from some lady. She told him she is talking on behalf of his bank and would like to inform him that he has earned reward money against his debit card purchases. My so-called uncle was all rejoiced and excited to hear that (I know what you must be thinking). She asked him to provide his card information (16 digit card number, card expiry date, CVV number) in order to redeem this amount. My so-called uncle was way much excited to hear this fake news and readily gave her all the information she asked for. They said that the amount will be transferred to his bank in less than 24 hours. They cut the call after receiving this information. Meanwhile, I was taking a shower.
They Called Back!
After 10 minutes his phone rang again and they asked for the OTP. They had initiated a transaction against his account and needed the OTP to complete the process. I was lying down in the bed next to him and was hearing the conversation that he was having with the callee. I couldn’t resist myself and I asked – “Is there any problem?”.
He told me that a lady called from his bank and asking for the OTP. “Which Lady?”, I asked. “I don’t know, she is a representative from my bank trying to transfer the amount I earned against my debit card purchases last month”, he said. I know he is the biggest idiot, but you see, people like him do exist and excuse me for saying him an Idiot but I really can’t help myself after seeing an educated 45 years old IT professional falling for such a trap. He ought to be an idiot for doing such an act and I don’t care if he reads my blog because I want him to know that he is an idiot so that he will try to change and not be an idiot. That’s a lot of idiot in one sentence :p
As soon as he told me this, I shouted ?NOOOO? NOOOOOOOOO?. Don’t do that. They are 100% fraud. OTP is your final line of defence. Don’t ever share your OTP with anyone. Instead of shutting the call that very moment and complaining the number to fraud agency, he started explaining to me that they are the good guys and they are trying to transfer his earned money to his account. I knew that they are fraud but at that moment I had to keep my calm and convince him. I told him – If you don’t believe me, then just ask them to call you after 10 minutes and call your bank to confirm if they are the right people or not. Your bank won’t lie to you. He agreed on this but instead of shutting the call he asked them to call again shortly by giving the complete reason. This is his exact wordings – “Hey! Could you please call me after 10 minutes. I need to consult my bank before giving you guys the OTP. If my manager agrees on it then I would give you the OTP. So, could you please call me after 5 minutes?”.
FUCK!
Why in the world would you tell a thief to wait till I call the police and tell him that you are about to do a crime? As they are fraud they couldn’t let this happen, so they started threatening him that he will have to claim it the very moment otherwise it would not be available for him afterwards. They even said him that his account might be compromised. This conversation lasted for more than 15 minutes and I was dancing like a monkey in front of him to shut the call. Just cut it, cuttt ittt? cuttttttttt itt???. But no, somehow he was convinced that something is wrong. I was getting late for the office and I said him that do not give your OTP to anyone unless you know him personally and you are sure that he would not do anything bad to you (like your parents or best friends). I left off by saying these words.
They were Indeed Fraud
When I returned from the office he was not there. He came back home after an hour all happy. He came to me and said – Hey! You were right! Those guys were fraud. I called my Relationship Manager and told him everything. He asked me not to share the OTP with anyone and if the bank would have to transfer money to his account, it will directly transfer it to your account without needing any sensitive information. Duh! What did I tell you in the first place? Was I talking some other language? Finally, he was safe and learned a lesson. I later asked him to share the number with me and I will complain about this number to the fraud agency. He refused to give the number by saying – “Leave it! He did not do any bad to me. Why trouble him unnecessarily :/ “. I know you feel like kicking him that very moment but hey, mind your manners. I gave him a neutral expression,
OKAY!
What Did We Learn
No matter how stupid you are, you can still save yourself from such a fraud by not sharing any of your sensitive information with anyone. The story I told you in this article is 100% real. It does sound like a made up but it is not (although I do want it to be, really). This was the first time I realised we are covered with so much stupidity and still we choose to work like nothing wrong has happened.
I don’t know if you have faced such thing in your life or not but if you have then do share it with me. I want to know the level of stupidity among the people around us.
And as always,
Be my aficionado 🙂