660. In the Wink of an Eye

"I had given an advertisement online for selling my car. Someone rang me up on seeing the advertisement. We negotiated over the phone and arrived at a price. He sent me an image to my mobile phone and asked me to scan it with my mobile. He said that it was called the QR code and that if I scanned the code, he would be able to see my bank details and transfer the money to my bank. He said that he would take delivery of the car the next day" said Mahadevan.

The police inspector from cyber crimes who was listening to Mahadevan's complaint laughed and said, "He was telling you the truth! Once you had scanned the code sent by him, he would have known your bank details, including your password. Then he wiped your account clean. How much money did you lose?"

"Twenty eight lakh rupees."

"Why did you keep such a large sum in your account?"

"I would normally keep a few lakh rupees in my account, for the day-to-day expenses of my business. A few days back, a fixed deposit kept by me got matured and about twenty lakh rupees were deposited in my savings account. I had planned to reinvest the sum, in the next few days. But, all the money has gone in the wink of an eye. How did this happen? How was the amount transferred from my account, without my getting an OTP* in my mobile and verifying it. The bank says that the transfer took place, only after verification of the OTP" said Mahadevan.

"This new kind of fraud called QR scam has been hitting people, since recently. We are still investigating how this fraud is being executed. The scammer would have learnt all the details about your bank account, like the name of the bank, account number, balance and your password. He would have transferred the amount from your account to one of his untraceable accounts immediately. In all probability, you would have received an OTP at your mobile phone. You might not have noticed it or you might have ignored it, thinking that it was an error, since you didn't initiate any transaction. The message carrying the OTP would automatically have been forwarded to the scammer's mobile. He would have verified the OTP and completed the transfer" explained the inspector.

"Can you not trace the account to which the money was transferred and recover the money?"

"These scammers would have opened accounts in a number of banks, giving false details supported by forged identity documents. They would transfer the amount to some of their other accounts, immediately after getting the credit. By the time we trace the chain of transfers, the scammer would have moved away and started a new scam. If he is smart, he would stop the activity, after earning some money and destroy all evidences, without leaving any trace. Even if we could catch him, the chances of your getting your money back are extremely low. We keep cautioning people, by bringing these kinds of scams to the notice of people. But, many people like you don't pay attention to our messages and keep getting scammed. By the way, what is the business you are engaged in?"

"I am a commission agent" said Mahadevan, somewhat reluctantly.

"Why are you so reluctant to mention your business? You should feel proud about doing a business, however small and earning money in an honest way, unlike these scammers who make money by cheating others."

'But, I didn't earn money in an honest way. I take residence in a small place, convince some small businessmen that I could procure them loans at low interest, collect a few thousand rupees from them as a retainer and abscond from that place. I then go to some other place and repeat this process. The money I lost to the scammer was earned that way. I had been carrying on this 'business' at various places, emboldened by the belief that people who were cheated by me won't go to the police, since each of them lost only a few thousand rupees. I have shown the money earned by my scheme, as money earned from commission agency. But, what I had accumulated little by little over the years has been entirely swindled from me by a scammer, much bigger and smarter than me" reflected Mahadevan.

*OTP - One Time Password sent to a mobile number for verifying the authenticity of a transaction.

Thirukkural
Section 2

Materialism

Chapter 66
Purity in Action

Verse 658 (in Tamil):
salaththAl poruL seydhE mArththal pasu maN
kalaththuL nIr pey thirI aRRu.

Meaning:

Earning money through deceit and protecting such ill-gotten wealth

is like storing water in a fresh unbaked mud pot.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'vandha vazhiyum senRa vazhiyum' by the same author.) 

Verse 661 (Soon)
Verse 659