A woman in her 50s living in an elite suburb of Mumbai is conned by a person whom she had not even met!

 The woman befriended a ‘Michael from UK’ on social media. She shared her problems and struggles with him and he was very sympathetic and promised to help her. 

Thereafter he used the usual conning ruse. He told her that he had sent her some expensive gifts and $ 30,000, that was stuck up at Delhi Airport. He asked her to send money for customs clearance. To make the conning authentic, a fraudster custom official called and asked the woman to pay the amount through a link sent to her. Having paid the custom duty, she was asked to make further payments towards international tax, fund transfer, processing fee, foreign exchange clearance etc.

After paying Rs 18 lakh, the woman realised she was duped and approached the police and the cyber-crimes cell.

‘Seriously?'

How could she fall for this obvious bait?’ I wondered, reading the news aloud.

‘How did the woman not see the obvious red signals and got trapped?’ I fumed.

Hubby said, ’social media is a good medium to befriend people. It is easy to share your griefs and problems with friends rather than family members, who may for all you know be the cause of the grief!’ 

‘But, why ignore such obvious red signals. It is obvious he was was sympathetic only to fleece her’ I repeated.

 ‘Hmmm. Which signals are you referring to?’ he asked.

 ‘First and foremost, she should have got a doubt when a so called friend, she met on Facebook, informed her that he was sending her such costly gifts,’ I began.

 ‘May be her husband/family were not giving her gifts, so she was happy to receive a gift from a friend,’ hubby said.

‘You too don’t give me gifts. Last two years, you gave no gifts for my birthday or our wedding anniversary,’ I remarked not wasting a golden opportunity.

 ‘I don’t go about asking or accepting gifts from all and sundry,’ I continued.

 ‘What are the other red signals that the lady ignored,’ hubby asked, wishing to get back to the topic under discussion.

 ‘When she is staying in Mumbai, why did he send the gifts to Delhi?  That should have warned her. He was obviously conning her.’

‘Also, if he was gifting her $30000, he should have asked her Bank account and transferred the money directly. Why transfer through Delhi?’

 ‘She is not savvy like you,’ hubby complimented.

 ‘This is not about being savvy, it is being foolish,’ I said.

 ‘Additionally, she kept paying some international tax, fund transfer, processing fee, foreign exchange clearance etc. to the tune of ₹ 18 lakh!’

'And after paying ₹18 lakh, she realised she is duped! How strange!'

‘Yes, I am surprised. How did she transfer such large sum?’ hubby wondered.

 ‘I too am wondering. She had ₹ 18 lakhs that she transferred without the permission of her husband or other family members. That means she had so much of independence. While I…’ I began.

’If she had consulted her husband, she would not have been duped,’ hubby added before the topic got personal.

‘How did she make such large payments online? And she paid without getting any receipts, confirmation from any of these offices? She really blundered.’ I continued.

‘Are these not enough red signals to realise that something is fishy?’

 ‘It’s a lesson she has learnt the hard way. ‘I hope the cyber-crime officials catch the conman quickly,’ hubby added.

 ‘In the recent past, many persons, senior citizens and ladies in particular are getting conned.  I tell my friends that one should be careful and not share financial details with new persons you befriend on social media. One must also not entertain money transaction through dubious links. All financial payments should be made on the official websites of the concerned organisation. We have to be careful to not fall in the trap of these cyber-crimes.’ I gave a sermon to no one in particular.

 Hubby, as usual took refuge of a newspaper.

 ‘Last month, my friend got a call, purportedly from her Bank asking her to share her credit card details to update and increase her credit limit. When they asked her to give the OTP online, she realised it was something fishy and escaped being duped. We should be alert, like her.’ My husband spoke.

‘Which friend? You never mentioned this to me. And you say it happened last month!’ I cried out.

 ‘That is the difference between you and me. I tell you EVERYTHING that my friends discuss. I even tell you when I meet your friends and what they speak or don’t speak,’ I grumbled.

 ‘I did not speak to her. Her husband told us in the laughing club, proud of his wife’s intelligence.’

 ‘Oh! OK. You should have said my friend's wife. Anyway, he is a good husband to praise his wife . You all must learn from him,’ I spoke, pacified.

 ‘All of us have to learn how to be alert and not get duped in the cyber-crimes.’ Hubby said, in irritation.

 Remembering a song from film Majboor, I sang a parody:

‘Facebook ke friend se kahe sympathy mangta  hai……

Phir na kehna, “Michael shoulder deke paisa loot ta hai….”’

 And then it struck me.

 ‘How did Michael give his shoulder to cry on, if he was in UK?’

 ‘Was it a virtual shoulder?’

‘Another example of Metaverse, I guess.’ I said folding the newspaper

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