Editor
The news item, “Waiting for their Parcels” (ST 23 Feb 2014) should be an eye opener to all those who believe in the “get rich quick” theory by doing nothing but sitting in their homes. The simple logic to follow here is, nobody in this world is mad enough to give you free parcels or money. Sometimes one gets an email message that he or she has won a lottery. Before falling for this trap, why doesn’t a person realise that a lottery is won only if you have paid to buy a ticket!
Internet frauds are of all kinds but a recent one in which a friend of mine was a victim, needs to be narrated to ensure that others do not fall prey to similar ones. My friend, who has an account with a prominent bank, got an e-mail, purportedly from that Bank itself. The e-mail advised him that due to some software problem all the personal data pertaining to his account with the Bank had been lost. He was asked to furnish his bank A/c No., date of birth, his ATM card No. and password. This colleague, gullibly parted with all the information. The next time he tried to find out the balance in his account, and that was after one week, he found his account balance depleted to the extent of Rs. 1 lakh, and that too in instalments of Rs. 50000/- each.
So we need to be vigilant and not reveal anything over the web, and certainly not our password. Even the Bank that has issued us the Credit Card/ ATM card is NOT entitled to ask us to reveal the password. If the Bank does need some information like PAN card details etc. we need to call the Bank and ask whether they have indeed called for the information. Many Internet scamsters try to imitate a genuine service provider to trick us. The first thing that should strike/ alert us are palpable spelling mistakes in the message sent. That is a first sign that something may be amiss.
Another scam doing the rounds is when an email advises us that a certain gentleman in some African/ European country has died intestate leaving behind a billion dollar fortune and you are the one among a handful of people who have been identified to receive a share of the proceeds. These people even have a temporary address and telephone no. in India where you can actually talk about the deal with an Indian associate of theirs, who often is a lady. The scamsters then advise you that to take care of their legal expenses, a certain amount of money is required which they ask you to deposit in an account with one of the major private sector banks in India. This amount may start with Rs 20000 – 50000 in the first instance. And yes they are graceful enough to give you an instalment facility too. Many Indians have fallen for this bait and lost lakhs in their quest to become billionaires.
Then there is the case of emails from (mostly) African women who have “inherited” vast sums of money and want to marry you. Of course, once a young man agrees, he may be asked to remit “processing fees” to ensure her safe passage. All it will ensure is the safe passage of his hard earned money to an entity abroad. It is hoped that the above advice keeps people from falling in to similar money-traps and honey-traps.
Yours etc.,
Julius Machado
Shillong- 3
Poll officials with no civic sense
Editor,
Our school Lumshyiap Upper Primary School was chosen as a polling station as in previous years, but this year was different. The whole school campus and the school hall was littered with rubbish .Don’t the polling official have any civic sense? Our entire day, today was lost in cleaning rather than teaching. For the next M.P election i would request our polling officials to please use the dust-bin .
Your etc,
M.L Sangma
Headmaster
LUPS