On May 5 last year, Gurugram resident Umesh Gupta filed a complaint with the station house officer (SHO), Sadar Thana. When his Covid positive cousin's oxygen saturation had started plummeting, he searched online for oxygen cylinders. That is when he got a WhatsApp forward about a 'Mr S. Dasgupta' who was selling cylinders. On May 1, after speaking to him a couple of times, Umesh advanced ₹11,000 to Dasgupta's SBI account. The deal was that the cylinder would reach him within two hours of the advance being credited. But no cylinder was delivered. Umesh called Dasgupta several times, only to be brushed off with vague explanations. The next day, Dasgupta called and demanded another ₹12,000. A suspicious Umesh got a few of his friends to call Dasgupta for cylinders. Each time, Dasgupta would give different account numbers under different names. He also stopped picking up Umesh's calls.
When the SHO took no action, Umesh got an attorney at the Gurugram district court to appeal to the the cyber cell. The cyber cell ignored it, until the attorney moved court. A few weeks later, the judge asked the cyber cell for a status update. The person from the cyber cell was very rude, says Umesh. He seemed unhappy to register my complaint. Right now, I am not pursuing the case to get my money back. I just want to make sure no one else gets cheated by these people.
Umesh's case is not an isolated one. Fraudsters are dime a dozen, offering everything from free coaching classes, online discount coupons and Rs20 lacs loan in just few clicks. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, cybercrimes jumped by almost 84 per cent in two years from 27,248 in 2018 to 50,035 in 2020.
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Denne historien er fra July 03, 2022-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
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William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI
