Fraud out of Greed !

Today's THE HINDU has reported an incident as 'Vishing' wherein a woman has been defrauded by promising to send an expensive gift, as her phone number was selected in a lucky draw.  After she  sent   Rs 2000/- as courier charges, the 'gift'  received contained  not an iPhone but just few hundred rupees worth of cheap cosmetic items. The cyber crime police investigating this has said  ' there are many such complaints 

 received with similar modus operandi'  !

This is an age old trick and despite the communication and media channels available, its a pity that people are still falling for it.

Though it certainly falls under the category of a fraud, can we do anything to refrain from becoming a 'Victim'? The answer is certainly a big 'Yes'.

Has one not heard about the Nigerian and other scams promising jobs and luring the potential victims to send only the postal charges?

Realistically, can you think of any organisation awarding you with a very expensive gift, for nothing? 

If the org was going to give such an expensive gift, won't they also bear the accompanying courier charges? 

There are many such instances of Emails, short messages and phone calls luring people to part with their personal details such as address, phone numbers and IDs, only to make money out of them rather than parting with any gift. 

In my opinion, such frauds are happening only with the involuntary connivance of the victim! Yes, though the victim has not directly contributed, his/her greed has made the victim also an accomplice.

Let us remember that all those blinking advertisements in the websites you visit, 'click here for a pot of gold' like messages are all meant to lure the gullible.

Understand that not only the innocents are targeted but also the tech-savvy, who in a momentary lapse of mind and act of foolery or more out of persistent annoyance of emails or advertisement, could press that fatal link. 

I am reminded of a huge hoarding outside an erstwhile finance company in Royapettah (Chennai) which proclaimed " Nothing in this world is for free;  the worm at the end of the rod is, after all, a bait and not food for the fish" !!

That the said company also went bust with depositors' money is of course a different story !!