After tossing and turning in bed last Wednesday night, I got up feeling anxious and nervous. I thought that all was not right with my world. And sure enough, by mid-morning on Thursday, 7th August, I had one of the worst experiences of my life.

I WAS SCAMMED AND BECAME ONE OF THE MILLIONS OF VICTIMS OF CYBERCRIME.

it all began with the refrigerator

Last year, we began the project of renovating the kitchen and making over the house. It wasn’t exactly the best time to start such an important project but then, when is it ever convenient to do anything? My mother had just passed away and I was busy making trips to see my dad who was also slowly dying.

But of course, life goes on while we pass through. And the house renovation finally got over after 4 1/2 months of sheer torture. I put off buying the refrigerator simply because I couldn’t bear having another strange person in my house. However, I couldn’t put it off for very long. Finally, at the end of APRIL of this year, we bought a new fridge. It was a SAMSUNG RT45DG6A2BSLHL

This sounds like gibberish but it translates into 480 Litre fridge. It had a grey metallic finish. It would fit into the small space provided by MAKWANA (the modular kitchen provider). Unlike their Sales pitch, they provided me with a kitchen that neither fits me nor my gadgets.

Thanks to Makwana’s botched up job, I had to do a lot of research to find the fridge. I was totally disappointed when it started giving me trouble with cooling. There were mornings when I would open the fridge to look inside a dense fog.

how it happened

Finally, by last week, it stopped cooling and on Thursday last, I contacted the Service Centre.

Unfortunately, the Service Center was NOT the official service center but a website I found on GOOGLE.

The ‘customer care agent’ listened to my complaint. He asked me if he could call back on a WhatsApp call since he couldn’t hear me too well.

Then he sent a message acknowledging my complaint with a link to a site. That , he said, would take me through the rest of the process of registering a complaint.

Foolishly, I clicked the link and I was told to pay Rs.5 to ‘book’ a technician’s visit request. At that time, I felt something was wrong. Because I HAVE NEVER BEEN ASKED TO PRE-PAY FOR ANY SUCH SERVICE . But since a disaster was waiting to happen, I complied.

Then, he asked me to SHARE MY SCREEN so that he could share his Bank details. Again, this was stupid on my part.

But the worst was still to come.

He asked me to open my UPI interface so that I could complete the transaction.

He then asked me to fill in my own number as the recipient. I was told to fill in the first 5 digits of my phone number in the Amount space and Rs.5 in the messages space and that this amount would go to ME. This was just a way of confirming that my request came from the Registered phone number with the company!!!!!!!

Of course, all this sounded extremely fishy but one never knows what companies are up to these days. Gone are those ‘prehistoric’ times when we dealt with actual people and made actual complaints in person.

Anyway, I clicked Proceed and whoosh, the amount was out of my bank and into his. I don’t know how he managed to attach my phone number to his bank account but he did.

When I didn’t get another message from him confirming the technician’s visit, I realised that I had been scammed.

next steps

I immediately went off to the Police station and registered my complaint with them. I also registered with the Cyber Crime branch. And told my bank to freeze my account so that he couldn’t drain it dry.

I traced all transactions on my UPI app and made screen shots of them.

I managed to track down both the bank and the account to which the money was transferred.

I have also made a claim with my bank and hope to get the money back.

Meanwhile, I de-linked my bank from all UPI apps, stopped autopay options and also logged off the app. I have also removed the app from my phone.

lessons learned

ALL ON GOOGLE IS NOT TRUE.

INSTALL TRUECALLER TO IDENTIFY ALL CALLS

NEVER SHARE YOUR SCREEN WITH ANYONE

aftermath

Getting scammed makes you feel assaulted. It makes you feel foolish, inadequate and incapable of cognitive function.

I felt like curling up and never opening my eyes again.

I am scared to pick up phone calls from unknown numbers.

After I got scammed, lots of people told me their stories. All of them were smart and educated. They were also tech savvy.

Friends and relatives consoled me that it was a lesson. Some told me that it I had to lose something so it happened.

But Ms. Papaya told me that more than anything else, it was my ego that was hurt. I was upset because I didn’t know how to deal with failure.

I wonder what it was. I wonder how it happened. And I wonder when I’ll get my money back.

Ciao,