With internet penetration increasing, news of people getting scammed online has increased in the last couple of months. With the advancement of technology, fraudsters have come up with new ways to scam people of their hard-earned money. However, a Bengaluru-based startup's co-founder had a hilarious approach when a scammer tried to extort money from her
The Bengaluru fintech SALT co-founder Udita Pal took to Twitter and shared some screenshots of the conversation she had with the scammer who was trying to defraud her with a work-from-home opportunity
Nowadays, scammers use platforms like WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and even Facebook to lure victims with promises of easy money, like earning up to Rs 5,000 per day for liking YouTube videos
The screenshots shared by Udita showed how she was asked to click on a link and watch a video and like it to get a job opportunity. The person, who texted from the peculiar number, claimed that they were from Mumbai
Udita, instead of straight-up blocking the scammer, had some fun replying to the scammer’s texts. Udita's tweet has garnered over 122k views and tons of reactions. People were amused by how Udita tackled the situation
When the scammer told Udita that she will be paid for liking and watching some YouTube videos, she played along and asked the scammer to share the link. When the scammer asked for screenshots to see if she has successfully completed the 'task', Udita shared pictures which called out the scammer
Instead of the screenshot, Udita shared a picture that looked like a screenshot of a YouTube video. The title of the video in the picture was 'Caught some idiot trying to scam'
Looking at the picture, the scammer did not understand that Udita had caught on. The scammer shared the video link again and asked for a screenshot again. She cheekily shared another similar picture, but this time the title was, 'Idiot still does not get it.'
Udita went on to offer a real job to the scammer. She said, “You are trying to scam...Why don't you just apply in my company for cold sales. Share your LinkedIn with me.”
When the scammer finally understood that Udita had caught their act, she was promptly blocked. Sharing the hilarious WhatsApp chat screenshots on Twitter, Udita wrote, "I’m going to hell for this"
The Uttar Pradesh Cyber Cell is currently investigating 900 similar crimes, while a Times of India report from January indicated that over 30,000 people were defrauded of more than Rs 200 crore in just four months through job scams
Note that the contact number of such scammers mostly start with foreign codes. So, if you do receive such texts from such unknown numbers, it's best to block the number right away and if possible, reach out to the cybercrime unit of your local police and flag the case