The Drawn Fool_Part1 [Share It Carefully]

I’m writing this blog at end of April , the month in which we celebrate April Fools’ Day. Celebrated on April 1 each year, it has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools’ Day traditions include playing practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools’ Day prank. 

But there is another fooling commonly known to us by the name of phishing which is very high in trend currently amid corona virus donations via fake UPI Id of PMCares Fund.

Recently, I watched the first Episode of Jamtaara. A web-series on frauds who run the phishing scam from a small village and loot people via various ways. A gripping watchable series, it reminded me of an incident with these frauds when I just started working waiting for my first salary on Payday.

It was our Induction day, when we were introduced to Setup and open our Bank accounts with any of the Private sector banks and I chose S**I bank(name changed). I was very acquainted with online shopping and knew that S**I provides many online offers. Also we were told that USP of S**I is that it’s completely online and normally has 1 branch per city, maybe that’s why it’s called S**I. Verification will also be done online. It was this sentence that made me so dumb not realizing how the things are done online.

Somewhere around 15-20 days after I’ve submitted my documents and got my account number also, I received a random call from S**I bank saying that you need to verify the account in order for the salary to be credited. I was in Office canteen and in such noisy ambience I think accidently provided some info that my salary comes on 1st of the month. I forgot about this call and got busy with my life.

There’s a common belief that the ‘Firsts’ are always special. Maybe that’s why many people have plans about how to spend their first salary. Some will send all of that to their parents. Some who have prayed earlier for placements will go to temple and will start their first expenditure by donating some to GOD. Some are like me who has a list of expenditures- PG rent, searching for flat, etc. and rest for saving for future.

Then 1st of next month came, my first PayDay. In the morning while getting ready for office I got a message of Salary credited into my account. Soon after that while leaving for office, I got a call from same customer representative that “Hey I think the salary might have been credited into your account. Now in order for you to be able to withdraw, a 4 digit verification code will come and then you can enjoy our services”. Since I was distracted & excited- Distracted for going to office & excited for my life’s first salary, I shared that code.

That’s it.

All my excitement went away when I saw that 3500Rs are deducted through my account and transferred via some Paytm gateway. Suddenly all the dots are connected and I realized that I’ve been phished.

During picture rewind, I realized that there were many hints that this is a trap, but I didn’t catch them.

1. Hint: He started using informal language like Sirji, Bhaiya, etc.
2. Hint: Normally you don’t talk to the same Banking customer care representative again.
3. Hint: The Classic one. NEVER SHARE OTP/CODE to unknown even when asked.

And all I did later with my loneliness Friend was rewinding the call that was first made trying to analyze did he really said S**I bank, or he said are you working in XYZ, or I provided him that info. If he said everything then how he knew these things –via Facebook, via the data which is shared by banks to Credit card companies, or he talked in such a way in that noisy ambience of Canteen that I told these things. These are the questions for which may never get answers.

If you’re also phished in similar way, Share your experience in comments.