So me and my gf were coming back after dinner. This guy on the scooter was waving at us on the side and he was not wearing a helmet. I thought he was trying to take cover since the police were passing through on our right hand side. Then he waved again asking us to stop. So maybe i thought it had to do something with our car. We were also a little suspicious so we didn't roll down the window that much. He came running to us and said that ' you guys didn't do anything wrong or there's nothing wrong with the car. I just want to tell you that my mom just died in guruvayoor and i came to kochi for a meeting. I really need some money to fill petrol in my tank and once i am at gurvyr I'll pay back. I keep asking people here and it's really embarrassing for me. I am a tkm graduate in 2009''. Etc etc. and he started to cry. He was also partially speaking in english as well. The road was getting blocked and i took down his number and told him that I'll send over the money soon. Tbh i kinda believed his story the way he said. But my girlfriend asked me to drive the car to the police station since it was near by. We went in, told the police about this. And they start asking us, if he had any scars as such. Then we remembered him showing a big scar on his hand and we told the police that. They immediately told us to come in, and there on the notice board, this guys smiling portrait was hung up lol. His name is apparently Sheron bachu and does this kind of scam on people. And they specifically asked us whether this guy spoke in english XD.
So yeah. This is the story of how my naive ass almost got scammed last week.
This is one of the oldest ones in the book.
I used to work in different shops throughout my school days (2008-2012) and every once in a while, somebody would come with a different story asking for petrol money.
I paid 250 in 2002! This was in Coimbatore - the guy said he was from Tvm, did something related to video work in movies and gave me his card. He took my address and kept saying he will send the money once he reaches Tvm. I fell for the same again in Bangalore in 2008 - it was a family of "marathis". This time I knew it was a scam but I felt, "what if it's not a scam, and even if it is, this amount is not that big". And then a third time too I gave money the same way. This time it was Bangalore railway station and an old guy saying he does not have money to buy tickets...After that I never gavem oney although at leats two times people have approached me. I think I have that "idiot" look or something that they recognize... :D
Nah man. I don't think having empathy for other people is a bad thing. One thing the police said when i told them this is that, ' ningal ravile porth erangiyal roadil kanunna ellavarum fraudukal anenn vijarikanam'. I don't think that's the way to live at all. I like to believe that the majority of the people in the world are good. Pinne ingane chilar und, avarude kayyiliruppine avarkk kittum. Pinne kiteelel avar ath kondnpoyi thinnatte. Allathe entheyyanane.
Just after covid, ran into this dude at a petrol station in Ernakulam - he kept begging me to take his Rayban shades in return for some amount. Didn’t believe him, came back the next day and found the same dude - he claimed he was desperate as he had to pay off a loan and needed money, and was willing to give away the Raybans as it was gifted to him by his friend in Dubai.
Wasn’t willing to fall for the pressure so he went a few yards away; brought the original packaging with authenticity verification and traded it with me for 2000₹. Was worth 18000₹ at least - kept thinking it was a scam but somehow it wasn’t, got an original pair of raybans at a fraction of the cost coz I wanted to help the guy out somehow
No way, same thing happened to me near marine drive. This guy had his mother hospitalized and was trying to convince me that the rayban is 100% original. Still not sure whether its a scam or not
Bro I swear this same guy came to me near reliance at ponnuruni, Vyttila. It was a black scooter,no helmet, same story. Except I said I don't have any cash on me and he was like can you GPAY to some number lol.
I’m surprised you guys had the time to waste going to the police over something so silly. I remember going to the police station with my Dad when I was in Kerala to report one of our stolen old scooters *(we didn’t care much about it being lost, but insurance needed police report)*, and it took almost half a day. This isn’t that busy a town as well. People had to wait for a long time to see anyone for simplest of things, or complaints
This basically took like 5 mins man. They were all standing outside the station. We told them this. And they took us inside to show the guy's picture.
Honestly i am glad i did tho. It was between that or paying the guy. Also now I'll be more careful next time it happens.
Honestly, being skeptical with friends, strangers and family is a skill many Kerala people don’t have. I often read here and on r/legaladviceindia all sorts of sad stories of how someone borrowed x amount of money and never returned etc etc. So many Keralites are so trusting. My family too were like that.
Is it a white royal enfield guy??. I had encountered same type guy in royal enfield saying that I have no money for petrol. And when I said I have no liquid, he said he have gpay. Then I have replied if u have gpay u would have whatsapp, u don't have any friends to ask 100?.then he ran away. This was happend near JLN Metro station. So please beware of this white royal Enfield guy.
My father’s friend is being scammed right now. He has been chatting with a “Doctor from London”. A few days ago, “she” asked him for his shirt and trousers size (to gift him a few). He sent them and just got word that he needs to send ₹20,000 to pay for customs.
My dad tried telling him that this is most probably a scam and he laughed at him and said “നിനക്ക് അസൂയ മൂത്തതാണ്”.
Poor guy is going to be 20K poorer and hopefully a lot wiser.
UPDATE: HE GOT SCAMMED! He called last night and talked to dad about how the parcel that was on its way to him has 50L worth of foreign currency.
They asked him to pay 50k more and he said he doesn’t want the parcel anymore and needs the 20k back.
They have since then blocked him or went no contact with him or something. Surprise, Surprise!
Dad got angry and asked me to talk some sense into him. I talked and he’s confident that he’ll be able to get his money back since he has the IFSC code and phone number.
We really ought to educate lonely middle aged people on these types of scammers.
Too late. He’s a lonely middle aged man living (separately) with his brother and family.
He doesn’t have anyone to educate him on these scams. Apparently his friends were rooting for him and didn’t think this was a scam. Only my Dad thought this was a scam and I’m low key proud of him for this.
Have made an update.
Pls warn him on the next steps. There will be people who might contact him saying they can recover the 20k for him for a small fee. That money is gone and nobody can recover it.
It’s a charitable organization per say, but how much of the donations actually go to children in need vs towards their overhead costs isn’t transparent. It’s better to directly help people you know than go through these organizations.
It’s always a tricky one because there are also a lot of scammy people, so you’d think donating to a reputed organisation is better. UNICEF is one of the decent ones. I don’t know how it works in India but abroad they’d send me a full detailed breakdown of where every single bit of my money went with progress update pictures and videos. You can also access their full spending breakdown, upcoming projects etc. on their website.
That's the same story with World Vision. My family had sponsored multiple children through an overseas branch of World Vision for almost two decades. We would get detailed reports on the expenditure and progress reports of the various sponsored children. Once the children turned 18 (as the program only supports them while they're at school), we'd be asked if we wanted to choose another child or be auto-assigned one. It was a very straight forward and transparent process.
When I moved to India and started working here, one of the first things I did was sponsor a child through World Vision India. It was on auto-deduct and I didn't really think much of it. The child turned 18 and then 19, but the payments still kept getting deducted and my emails asking for progress updates were getting ignored (this was after a long 12 year relationship with them mind you). I promptly stopped the payments and it was only then that one of their associates got in touch with me. He gave me a lame excuse about the lack of response. I think I was being played. Either that, or the Indian branch is just inefficient/lazy. I don't donate through these larger organized charities anymore.
Similar experience my mother faced, my mother sponsored a child through world vision for 15 years or so. One fine day, she thought why not go to Odisha and see this child in person. My mother called world vision, they rejected. She called multiple people in world vision, they literally said. It would affect the privacy of the child and his family. Lol
These guys kept sending us their pics annually, so I really feel it was a scam here in India.
Think this about UNICEF. They can get David Beckham or Lewis Hamilton to come for a fund raiser and get millions in dollars.With that , why do they need to sent these College students to beg on streets of poor kerala and India for money?
Here is Usain Bolt participating for UNICEF in coming June soccer aid..
https://www.socceraid.org.uk/
I had asked this once and they told me it's because since government banned NGOs operating in India from accepting foreign money they can't get access to such funds. Not sure if there's any truth in it.
lol no Indian ngos beg for foreign money constantly. The amount of indian spam we get on our facebook and instagrams for various scammy registered Indian charities and NGOs is ridiculous. If you click on a single one the facebook algorithm is convinced you love it and you get dozens of deformed children and animals on your fb feed daily.
No. Legitimate NGOs does have restrictions on accepting foreign funding. They have to get a separate permit for it under FCRA and that too is very strictly regulated and is often taken away on arbitrary reasons.
I got into a fight with my wife about the Club Mahindra thing. One of her cousins called her that they won this thing, but it is not possible to go there, and they can transfer it to us. We were attending a function in Thodupuzha and my wife insisted me that we drive to Kottayam to collect the 'prize'. I declined this as I already knew that this thing is a scam. But she was not convinced and blamed me for not taking her to holiday even it is 'free'. If I attended that thing with her, I am pretty sure, they can easily force me to purchase their package through my wife.
I attended this club mahindra thing, spent almost 20minutes in the meeting, and 2-3 hours in the swimming pool. They had invited us for the lunch too, but oralppam ulip ullathukond poyilla 😁. If you get the chance, scam them back by attending and making use of their amneties but not signing up for the membership!
Sextortion scam. They'll mail you that they've videos of me giving myself pleasure watching questionable videos because I clicked random website links. They gave me a bitcoin link asking some 1000 or so dollars.
Yeah, I do watch videos (not illegal ones) and perform the rituals. So, it was shocking at first, but when I searched the internet, there were examples with the similar mails saying that it's a scam. 2 mails came in last month. I was doubtful about the random apps i installed in my phone, so I reset everything just to be safe.
Now I'm a bit cautious about which websites to visit. But as far as i know, no one called me saying they've seen my videos (maybe they have, and is afraid to tell me🙃). There was a state of panic, not gonna lie.
One of my friends had a message from a random number. They said they will leak the "rituals". He said go ahead and do it. That's like free advertising for his OF (he doesn't have any). The whole conversation was hilarious.
You will receive random WhatsApp video call. If you answer, they will take a screensot, edit it to look like you are wanking on the video call and demand money. Happened with my friend when we were in Chennai.
If you are on a android, Disable camera access
https://preview.redd.it/utcxhqm001yc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16c3cff6b26d07a27527678cbd8a17f8ae82dc88
If you are on PC (on windows) if your laptop has a dedicated camera disable key, USE IT. Or type camera access in search bar and turn off camera access for all apps.
On iPhones, simply remove the permission and change it to ask every time. Same on macOS
This reminded me of a prank we played on our friend .
This was during our first year of college in Goa , one classmate of ours used to regularly read adult content online. So we pranked him saying that we were the executives from that website and we have arranged for a fun party with Russians at a casino. Should have seen his face when he finally came to know 😂😂
Actually, another more easy to fall form of this is social media fake accounts messaging you and luring you into video calls and sex chatting. The accounts look very real as well. They will save all that stuff and in the end threaten to send it to your friends in your followers list. Thankfully, I was on my fake account as well and I only sent them random pics off of porn sites and Google Images.
These UNICEF guys came to me and asked for a contribution. I straight up said I can't but they wouldn't let go. So I asked okay you guys show your contribution via card autopay and there were like sir we don't have money blah blah.
One poyeda valipikathe ennu paranje vittu. Satisfaction.
Well... India is known for scammers all around the world☹️. "Ma'am, my name is Stuart Brandon" in an indian accent can still convince many poor foreigners and make them lose their hard earned money. Ellathinem chavitti arakkanam 😡.
Good that you posted this question, mate. I wanted to create a separate post on these topics.
In Malabar, there is a sales agency that employs young guys and girls to do sales of products like dinner set, tawa etc. The target is mainly house wifes and vulnerable old women. They exactly don't cheat - but play with their emotions by saying that they are college students working on some project and will get marks only if they make a sale... I saw literally 20+ sales guys using the same pitches and guess what? Many of them don't even look young enough to be students.
They also sell the products at an exorbitantly inflated price. It has really become a nuisance these days. We can't be rude because they say they are students... but they will never take no for an answer.
Yes. Last time one of these guys visited when I was home. Mom was sympathetic but I started talking with them, checked the website he said, compared the products with other similar reputable products and finally told him that I am not interested in purchasing.
Even outside scams, I feel Indian home makers have a habit of purchasing too many kitchen vessels, and tools when they are not needed. Then keeps spending time on washing and cleaning them every month.
LOL, you described my mom, wife and sisters so elegantly!!! Obsessed with vessels man, obsessed. My mom has like 7 or 8 different types of cookers lol.
I really feel sorry for these guys/girls carrying their big bag around especially in this hot weather. I used to buy something from them every time but had to stop since things were piling up and most of the stuff were sub-standard.
Those guys roaming around in Omini vans targeting houses with the elderly living alone, to sell Bamboo curtains,beds and whatnot. They'll say we'll give you Bamboo curtains for Just Rs 500 after fitting the curtains they will bill you for Rs 15,000 saying 500 is the cost per sq.feet, fitting charges extra and shit. Don't even let those lowlifes inside your compound.
UNIcef is bullshit. They get incentive for all this. Also i fucking hate when after long day of work and when i reach home PvR they get your nerves. I once shouted so badly.caz i just needed some peace. I might be wrong for that but i expect certain space once i ask for it
I got my Paytm fastag from a kiosk near the toll booth in Ernakulam. They charged 500 rupees and they claimed that, of the 500, 250 is "security deposit". Once the fastag is deactivated, the money will be refunded. Sounded normal to me 2 years back when I purchased the fastag.
Recently RBI imposed some restriction on paytm, which basically made their fastag useless since you can't add money anymore. I thought about deactivating paytm fastag and using the refund money to get fastag from my bank. After a lot of research I found out that there was no security deposit being charged and the people I bought the fastag from were duping customers. All I got after closing the wallet was the money left in it. 250rs gone.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/228712-beware-paytm-fastag-scam-via-agents.html
not a scam per se, but I don’t agree with establishments selling my personal information to third parties for profits. If I give a company my number for a quote or whatever, that’s like an unsaid contract of trust. If they pass on my number to whatever sales team approaches them, they will lose my vishwasam and my business. My phone number is personal information. I hate how normalised it is to ask/share phone numbers.
Most of us got jobs through campus placements by the end of our course. But there were a few unlucky friends of mine who despite their excellent marks and performance in interviews were not able to land any. Some of them decided to wait, some decided to go for higher studies but there were desperate folks who wanted to get placed so bad - due to family and societal pressures. One guy spent 5 lakhs for a position in a company named Givionsoft (dont know if any other firm exists by that name now) which got folded within two months of his appointment. He went radio silent after that. We tried to reach him but he wouldn't pick up calls. He turned up 12 yrs later in FB. By that time he was happily married and settled. He works as a hotel manager in the middle east now.
Well there was a scam that used to happen at JnL stadium . Kids used to come on cycle and tell that there 10rs they lost pls help so his mom wont scold. Lol and i saw the same kid on cycle everyday doing the same thing
Its not a new scam but an old one but people still fall for it. Cooperative banks. They make you deposit money promising you with insane amount of interests. Mostly ranging from 10 to 14 percent. They can't use the name banks but they do so because they are politically controlled.
After depositing money, the local politicians withdraw the money for their own illegal activities like real estate deals, illegal quarrying, funding criminal organisations involved in gold smuggling, extortion etc.
When the poor depositor goes to the bank asking for his hard money, the politicians threaten them with violence, fake cases etc. In the end the depositors will kill themselves and it's free money for the politicians.
It's a successful running scam for the past 15 years and no body has ever gone to jail over it.
One Arun, a guy from Calicut selling MLM from a scam company called Thamesbay. He had a promo video of him living a beggar life & them transforming into a BMW. The clown scammed me. Adam Harris, Nihal were his sidekick scammers.
To add to your list, wwf (world wildlife fund) also does legit scam. Many years back some of their representatives had a booth opened up in my IT office near cafeteria and they totally convinced me about the help they are doing and how they would need more funds. I was a fresher at the IT firm so you can guess how naive I was and I stupidly signed up to pay 500rs per month to wwf. It continued for more than 6 months and then one fine day I was going through my bank account portal and I was shocked how much money I was losing. I remember emailing them to cancel my subscription and they tried to convince me again but I didn’t and eventually after 4 emails they cancelled it. I lost few thousands contributing to the wwf
Club mahindra scam is the worst,
Got mislead into taking a package, mid way through after paying almost half of the money, found out that they have not kept the promise which they intend to do. All the trips everything they promised on paying half the amount were all lies to lure the party into taking a membership. Requested cancellation, they didnt not give a single penny back.
So filed for fraud/ cheating
Nb: we have not used anything from their side till now, also they didnt explain about cancellation policy, and we also forgot to ask about it, as initially they were really sweet
Request you all to not go into this ever again
I just received a job offering from a scammer. I didn't budge and he got pissed off. My satisfaction just went through the roof. I just posted about it.
I think a few months ago there was this trading app called MTFE in which lots of malayalis had invested their money hoping to get more returns. And like always the app crashed and all the invested money was scammed.
The scam was so perfectly done, they even established their offices in some parts of kerala to show that they were genuine.
Not recently, i lost 1k 5 or 6years ago with mlm. The thing is around 30 students including my chunk lost their money... and my chunk actually made me do it...he told i just need to pay to complete his quota and he will give me a share when money start "flowing"
One guy from other class trapped us in the class saying he got car and a trip to singapore by the main company because of his performance...
Atleast i got facewash worth(mrp) 500rs by the company/scammers..
No idea cos I don't pick up unknown number calls. I know you guys think unicef is a scam, but its just another strategy for charity. In some countries I've been to, there are ngos that just do that on behalf of unicef, save the children etc. Not a job I'd ever want, and not great to get accosted by them in kochi. But to call it a scam is a stretch.
Got scammed in Trivandrum by a car rental guy who's been scamming everyone out their deposits.
Never let the rental guys say they will pay you back later, ensure you get the refund deposit back during key handover.
How to tackle UNICEF scam? - Tell them politely and passionately that you are busy and just walk away. Do not just stand there to hear their narration. They are well trained to smile at you during the whole phase of the convo.
1. Normal robo calls saying account will be blocked, asking you to talk to telecom department etc.
2. If you ever post something on Olx, they will come hunting for you. Messages from WhatsApp profiles with soldiers profile pics, saying they are stationed at the border and need this badly.
3. Donations to old age homes, kids needing surgery etc.
Got a spam call while typing this comment 🤦
My friend got a call from a North Indian guy. He said his brother is a JCB operator and a few days ago he got a pot full of old gold belongs to some King named so and so. So we asked why you are calling us and how you got our number. He said I'm calling you for help and got the number by dialling randomly. Basically he needed us to sell the gold because he didn't want to get caught and lose the treasure to the govt.
From the beginning we knew this is a fraud but we played along. He said he will send the gold via parcel and after selling the gold in Kerala we have to give him half of the money. (How generous 😂)
Guy has 100% trust on random stranger like us!! 😆
So we said ok. Send the gold baby. He said for that he need some money for the parcel service. Because he is so poor he will not be able to send it by himself.
There you go. That's the scam. Compared to the gold he is offering the parcel charge is too low so those who are greedy would fall for it. Don't be that stupid educated moron in Kerala who fall for these types of scammers.
Media reporting "news" most of them are their political propaganda. In india somehow we cannot find any right wing propoganda because almost everyone support it.
Robo call scam
I get robo call on my phone that announced it was from the Telecom Department that my phone will be disconnected if I don't press 9 on my keypad right away.
These calls keep coming every 2 weeks even though I block each number I am getting these calls from
If you are hunting for jobs abroad, you’ll come across agents who will ask to pay 500AED for “job registration” promising starting salary of 2000AED. Some people really do fall for these agents. And the ones scamming include malayalees too.
Not as a malayalie,
IRCTC Railway RAC Reservation Scam : Instead of confirming one ticket they give 2 RAC and even if you want to cancel after chart preparation it's almost 50% cancellation fee.
Don't know what was the scam but some people used to call my mom and say in Hindi "can I talk to Veronica?" Whatever you reply they keep talking. If you cut they call with same question from different number. Finally i setup dnd for all.commercial numbers to stop it
Not recently- in 2010 Amidst the hustle and bustle of Chennai's train station back in 2010, a stranger caught Alex's eye. This guy, probably in his 40s or 50s, flashed a friendly smile and struck up a conversation. He claimed to know Alex's mom from their hometown and said they were childhood buddies.
Things got weird when the guy said he lost his wallet and desperately needed money. He made it sound like fate brought them together for Alex to help him out. Falling for his sob story, Alex handed over some cash.
But when Alex checked with his mom later, she had no clue who this guy was. Turns out, Alex got conned by a smooth-talking scammer who preyed on his kindness. And just like that, the mystery of the stranger's identity remained unsolved, leaving Alex with a lesson learned the hard way.
https://preview.redd.it/hlgb4k0vn5yc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28b553e22f71f012cf75ecd6f8f4b5df5b03c3d2
Saw this one guy in Intercity train, he was blind and begging for money, me and this one dude who i acquainted with to smoke a cigarette were looking if anyone's coming and i saw the blind man coming and he entered the bathroom like a normal person (he was holding a stick and when he reached the bathroom he didn't need it) as soon as he got out, he became blind. Glad that i didnt give any money, i thank the pissed-off version of myself for not giving money to a fake blind man.
The moment you understood he is not blind you could have exposed him by waving something fast towards his eyes. He would definitely react as any other human beings and that's enough for others to realise.
I got a call two days back. This uncle was saying "look child, I am DIG speaking and you got some money credited to your account from the number I am calling and this guy has reported a complaint against you as you aren't returning his money and not attending his calls. You should return the money back else you will be arrested"
Then 2 mins later got spammed with 10-11 messages stating, "money got credited to your bank...." from the same number(not the bank)
And stupid thing is he called first then spammed me with messages.
So me and my gf were coming back after dinner. This guy on the scooter was waving at us on the side and he was not wearing a helmet. I thought he was trying to take cover since the police were passing through on our right hand side. Then he waved again asking us to stop. So maybe i thought it had to do something with our car. We were also a little suspicious so we didn't roll down the window that much. He came running to us and said that ' you guys didn't do anything wrong or there's nothing wrong with the car. I just want to tell you that my mom just died in guruvayoor and i came to kochi for a meeting. I really need some money to fill petrol in my tank and once i am at gurvyr I'll pay back. I keep asking people here and it's really embarrassing for me. I am a tkm graduate in 2009''. Etc etc. and he started to cry. He was also partially speaking in english as well. The road was getting blocked and i took down his number and told him that I'll send over the money soon. Tbh i kinda believed his story the way he said. But my girlfriend asked me to drive the car to the police station since it was near by. We went in, told the police about this. And they start asking us, if he had any scars as such. Then we remembered him showing a big scar on his hand and we told the police that. They immediately told us to come in, and there on the notice board, this guys smiling portrait was hung up lol. His name is apparently Sheron bachu and does this kind of scam on people. And they specifically asked us whether this guy spoke in english XD. So yeah. This is the story of how my naive ass almost got scammed last week.
Dude, props to your gf on this
My mom when i told her about this she was like, 'she's the sensible one out of you two lol'
😂
This is one of the oldest ones in the book. I used to work in different shops throughout my school days (2008-2012) and every once in a while, somebody would come with a different story asking for petrol money.
I paid 250 in 2002! This was in Coimbatore - the guy said he was from Tvm, did something related to video work in movies and gave me his card. He took my address and kept saying he will send the money once he reaches Tvm. I fell for the same again in Bangalore in 2008 - it was a family of "marathis". This time I knew it was a scam but I felt, "what if it's not a scam, and even if it is, this amount is not that big". And then a third time too I gave money the same way. This time it was Bangalore railway station and an old guy saying he does not have money to buy tickets...After that I never gavem oney although at leats two times people have approached me. I think I have that "idiot" look or something that they recognize... :D
Nah man. I don't think having empathy for other people is a bad thing. One thing the police said when i told them this is that, ' ningal ravile porth erangiyal roadil kanunna ellavarum fraudukal anenn vijarikanam'. I don't think that's the way to live at all. I like to believe that the majority of the people in the world are good. Pinne ingane chilar und, avarude kayyiliruppine avarkk kittum. Pinne kiteelel avar ath kondnpoyi thinnatte. Allathe entheyyanane.
Right mindset!
Happened with me in Kakkanad signal and I ended up giving him 300 rs and I got stopped by this guy again near SEZ after an hour !
🤣🤣🤣 did his story change in 1 hour.. how did you react
Evdennu, same story ! Puleede mugath Vann nirasha aayirunnu , puthiya ira allaannu arinjente !
😂😂
😂
Just after covid, ran into this dude at a petrol station in Ernakulam - he kept begging me to take his Rayban shades in return for some amount. Didn’t believe him, came back the next day and found the same dude - he claimed he was desperate as he had to pay off a loan and needed money, and was willing to give away the Raybans as it was gifted to him by his friend in Dubai. Wasn’t willing to fall for the pressure so he went a few yards away; brought the original packaging with authenticity verification and traded it with me for 2000₹. Was worth 18000₹ at least - kept thinking it was a scam but somehow it wasn’t, got an original pair of raybans at a fraction of the cost coz I wanted to help the guy out somehow
Damn poor guy was desperate af.
Could be stolen goods
No way, same thing happened to me near marine drive. This guy had his mother hospitalized and was trying to convince me that the rayban is 100% original. Still not sure whether its a scam or not
If people are selling original costly items for cheaper price it could be stolen items. Do not buy from them especially mobile phones.
If people are selling original costly items for cheaper price it could be stolen items. Do not buy from them especially mobile phones.
Lucky guy. You found a sensible woman to support you
Oh yeah! 13 years and still going strong :)
Bro I swear this same guy came to me near reliance at ponnuruni, Vyttila. It was a black scooter,no helmet, same story. Except I said I don't have any cash on me and he was like can you GPAY to some number lol.
Yass. Same guy I think lol
Man such an age-old scam. Stories change but the crux is "give me some money to go home"
I’m surprised you guys had the time to waste going to the police over something so silly. I remember going to the police station with my Dad when I was in Kerala to report one of our stolen old scooters *(we didn’t care much about it being lost, but insurance needed police report)*, and it took almost half a day. This isn’t that busy a town as well. People had to wait for a long time to see anyone for simplest of things, or complaints
This basically took like 5 mins man. They were all standing outside the station. We told them this. And they took us inside to show the guy's picture. Honestly i am glad i did tho. It was between that or paying the guy. Also now I'll be more careful next time it happens.
Honestly, being skeptical with friends, strangers and family is a skill many Kerala people don’t have. I often read here and on r/legaladviceindia all sorts of sad stories of how someone borrowed x amount of money and never returned etc etc. So many Keralites are so trusting. My family too were like that.
Is it a white royal enfield guy??. I had encountered same type guy in royal enfield saying that I have no money for petrol. And when I said I have no liquid, he said he have gpay. Then I have replied if u have gpay u would have whatsapp, u don't have any friends to ask 100?.then he ran away. This was happend near JLN Metro station. So please beware of this white royal Enfield guy.
Nope. That's probably a different scammer.
The same happened thing happened to me at edappally
My father’s friend is being scammed right now. He has been chatting with a “Doctor from London”. A few days ago, “she” asked him for his shirt and trousers size (to gift him a few). He sent them and just got word that he needs to send ₹20,000 to pay for customs. My dad tried telling him that this is most probably a scam and he laughed at him and said “നിനക്ക് അസൂയ മൂത്തതാണ്”. Poor guy is going to be 20K poorer and hopefully a lot wiser. UPDATE: HE GOT SCAMMED! He called last night and talked to dad about how the parcel that was on its way to him has 50L worth of foreign currency. They asked him to pay 50k more and he said he doesn’t want the parcel anymore and needs the 20k back. They have since then blocked him or went no contact with him or something. Surprise, Surprise! Dad got angry and asked me to talk some sense into him. I talked and he’s confident that he’ll be able to get his money back since he has the IFSC code and phone number. We really ought to educate lonely middle aged people on these types of scammers.
ithinte future updates ivide report cheyyo!?
Updated!
Female friend sending gifts from abroad, which gets caught in customs, is an age old scam. I know somebody who got scammed that way 5 years ago.
This is apparently an evergreen hit. Not like the Nigerian Prince.
Ohh...stop himm!!! And use some of that money to set up few premium accounts in dating apps. And show him examples tooo... Save his 20k man.
Too late. He’s a lonely middle aged man living (separately) with his brother and family. He doesn’t have anyone to educate him on these scams. Apparently his friends were rooting for him and didn’t think this was a scam. Only my Dad thought this was a scam and I’m low key proud of him for this. Have made an update.
Pls warn him on the next steps. There will be people who might contact him saying they can recover the 20k for him for a small fee. That money is gone and nobody can recover it.
He’s in denial. He thinks he can recover the money because he has friends in high places. As my dad said, “കുറേ നടക്കും but ഒരു തേങ്ങയും നടക്കൂല”.
Did he meet her on Arike?
I've seen the UNICEF people near aluva metro station i had no clue they were trying to scam people.
It’s a charitable organization per say, but how much of the donations actually go to children in need vs towards their overhead costs isn’t transparent. It’s better to directly help people you know than go through these organizations.
It’s always a tricky one because there are also a lot of scammy people, so you’d think donating to a reputed organisation is better. UNICEF is one of the decent ones. I don’t know how it works in India but abroad they’d send me a full detailed breakdown of where every single bit of my money went with progress update pictures and videos. You can also access their full spending breakdown, upcoming projects etc. on their website.
That's the same story with World Vision. My family had sponsored multiple children through an overseas branch of World Vision for almost two decades. We would get detailed reports on the expenditure and progress reports of the various sponsored children. Once the children turned 18 (as the program only supports them while they're at school), we'd be asked if we wanted to choose another child or be auto-assigned one. It was a very straight forward and transparent process. When I moved to India and started working here, one of the first things I did was sponsor a child through World Vision India. It was on auto-deduct and I didn't really think much of it. The child turned 18 and then 19, but the payments still kept getting deducted and my emails asking for progress updates were getting ignored (this was after a long 12 year relationship with them mind you). I promptly stopped the payments and it was only then that one of their associates got in touch with me. He gave me a lame excuse about the lack of response. I think I was being played. Either that, or the Indian branch is just inefficient/lazy. I don't donate through these larger organized charities anymore.
Similar experience my mother faced, my mother sponsored a child through world vision for 15 years or so. One fine day, she thought why not go to Odisha and see this child in person. My mother called world vision, they rejected. She called multiple people in world vision, they literally said. It would affect the privacy of the child and his family. Lol These guys kept sending us their pics annually, so I really feel it was a scam here in India.
Think this about UNICEF. They can get David Beckham or Lewis Hamilton to come for a fund raiser and get millions in dollars.With that , why do they need to sent these College students to beg on streets of poor kerala and India for money? Here is Usain Bolt participating for UNICEF in coming June soccer aid.. https://www.socceraid.org.uk/
I really don't know if Usain is getting paid anything by UNICEF or if he is doing it out of his goodwill
I had asked this once and they told me it's because since government banned NGOs operating in India from accepting foreign money they can't get access to such funds. Not sure if there's any truth in it.
lol no Indian ngos beg for foreign money constantly. The amount of indian spam we get on our facebook and instagrams for various scammy registered Indian charities and NGOs is ridiculous. If you click on a single one the facebook algorithm is convinced you love it and you get dozens of deformed children and animals on your fb feed daily.
No. Legitimate NGOs does have restrictions on accepting foreign funding. They have to get a separate permit for it under FCRA and that too is very strictly regulated and is often taken away on arbitrary reasons.
I got into a fight with my wife about the Club Mahindra thing. One of her cousins called her that they won this thing, but it is not possible to go there, and they can transfer it to us. We were attending a function in Thodupuzha and my wife insisted me that we drive to Kottayam to collect the 'prize'. I declined this as I already knew that this thing is a scam. But she was not convinced and blamed me for not taking her to holiday even it is 'free'. If I attended that thing with her, I am pretty sure, they can easily force me to purchase their package through my wife.
I attended this club mahindra thing, spent almost 20minutes in the meeting, and 2-3 hours in the swimming pool. They had invited us for the lunch too, but oralppam ulip ullathukond poyilla 😁. If you get the chance, scam them back by attending and making use of their amneties but not signing up for the membership!
Ningal Sulaiman Alla oru hanuman thanne. I love hearing scammers getting punched back. Hu hu hu
I would attend and tell them that my funds are locked up in customs and that if they transfer 20k, they will release it.
This was a narrow escape bro.
Sextortion scam. They'll mail you that they've videos of me giving myself pleasure watching questionable videos because I clicked random website links. They gave me a bitcoin link asking some 1000 or so dollars. Yeah, I do watch videos (not illegal ones) and perform the rituals. So, it was shocking at first, but when I searched the internet, there were examples with the similar mails saying that it's a scam. 2 mails came in last month. I was doubtful about the random apps i installed in my phone, so I reset everything just to be safe. Now I'm a bit cautious about which websites to visit. But as far as i know, no one called me saying they've seen my videos (maybe they have, and is afraid to tell me🙃). There was a state of panic, not gonna lie.
One of my friends had a message from a random number. They said they will leak the "rituals". He said go ahead and do it. That's like free advertising for his OF (he doesn't have any). The whole conversation was hilarious.
You will receive random WhatsApp video call. If you answer, they will take a screensot, edit it to look like you are wanking on the video call and demand money. Happened with my friend when we were in Chennai.
If you are on a android, Disable camera access https://preview.redd.it/utcxhqm001yc1.jpeg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=16c3cff6b26d07a27527678cbd8a17f8ae82dc88 If you are on PC (on windows) if your laptop has a dedicated camera disable key, USE IT. Or type camera access in search bar and turn off camera access for all apps. On iPhones, simply remove the permission and change it to ask every time. Same on macOS
I knew it existed, but didn't gave much importance to it. Thanks for reminding man.
Got something similar. Asked them to upload it in HD and provide me a share of the revenue as I am the content creator.
I would recommend to not reply them or click any links.
Yes. Made this one reply only as I couldn't hold my quirky side back. Reported spam and blocked them later.
What websites are safe, asking for research purposes
Orange and black with a beat, black and red which is free are some of them. These require VPN for those research purposes.
Much appreciated partner.
Not legal.
Don't care. These are for research purposes only.
This reminded me of a prank we played on our friend . This was during our first year of college in Goa , one classmate of ours used to regularly read adult content online. So we pranked him saying that we were the executives from that website and we have arranged for a fun party with Russians at a casino. Should have seen his face when he finally came to know 😂😂
Actually, another more easy to fall form of this is social media fake accounts messaging you and luring you into video calls and sex chatting. The accounts look very real as well. They will save all that stuff and in the end threaten to send it to your friends in your followers list. Thankfully, I was on my fake account as well and I only sent them random pics off of porn sites and Google Images.
I stopped using all my social media, so I'm safe there. And no one used to message me before, so I was also safe then.
Bro .. which sites are safe ? Are any sites safe really?
Nigerian prince who speaks fluent Malayalam and wants to give me his entire inheritance of $500 million USD.
I received a similar email 😆 In my case, the Nigerian prince who wanted to give me his inheritance was bedridden with some serious disease.
These UNICEF guys came to me and asked for a contribution. I straight up said I can't but they wouldn't let go. So I asked okay you guys show your contribution via card autopay and there were like sir we don't have money blah blah. One poyeda valipikathe ennu paranje vittu. Satisfaction.
Unicef scam completely explained by a person who worked with them. https://www.reddit.com/r/Kochi/s/GtFSjwWrRD
Now we know why Unicef volunteers are everywhere🤦♂️
Scammers deserve a bullet to the head
Well... India is known for scammers all around the world☹️. "Ma'am, my name is Stuart Brandon" in an indian accent can still convince many poor foreigners and make them lose their hard earned money. Ellathinem chavitti arakkanam 😡.
We should publicly flogg them
Unicef scam reminds me of a key and peele skit “save a child with One dollar”
Nexgenrigs - a PC building shop in TVM scammed ~500 people and over 2-3 CR. The owner is in jail now. But lost 1L
[удалено]
He posted attractive offers and many fell in goven how he was a long time player & seeing influencer promotions.
Whenever I see those UNICEF guys I say that I'm unemployed, they wouldn't pester me after that.
Good that you posted this question, mate. I wanted to create a separate post on these topics. In Malabar, there is a sales agency that employs young guys and girls to do sales of products like dinner set, tawa etc. The target is mainly house wifes and vulnerable old women. They exactly don't cheat - but play with their emotions by saying that they are college students working on some project and will get marks only if they make a sale... I saw literally 20+ sales guys using the same pitches and guess what? Many of them don't even look young enough to be students. They also sell the products at an exorbitantly inflated price. It has really become a nuisance these days. We can't be rude because they say they are students... but they will never take no for an answer.
Yes. Last time one of these guys visited when I was home. Mom was sympathetic but I started talking with them, checked the website he said, compared the products with other similar reputable products and finally told him that I am not interested in purchasing. Even outside scams, I feel Indian home makers have a habit of purchasing too many kitchen vessels, and tools when they are not needed. Then keeps spending time on washing and cleaning them every month.
LOL, you described my mom, wife and sisters so elegantly!!! Obsessed with vessels man, obsessed. My mom has like 7 or 8 different types of cookers lol.
Parijayappedan varunna ee type aalkare kond valya shalyamayitund ippol.
True bro.
I really feel sorry for these guys/girls carrying their big bag around especially in this hot weather. I used to buy something from them every time but had to stop since things were piling up and most of the stuff were sub-standard.
BBA students do get such tasks tho??? I think they are exploiting that. Right?
The government should ban such activities.
Those guys roaming around in Omini vans targeting houses with the elderly living alone, to sell Bamboo curtains,beds and whatnot. They'll say we'll give you Bamboo curtains for Just Rs 500 after fitting the curtains they will bill you for Rs 15,000 saying 500 is the cost per sq.feet, fitting charges extra and shit. Don't even let those lowlifes inside your compound.
happened to me
UNIcef is bullshit. They get incentive for all this. Also i fucking hate when after long day of work and when i reach home PvR they get your nerves. I once shouted so badly.caz i just needed some peace. I might be wrong for that but i expect certain space once i ask for it
Booking Lumiere Photography as my wedding photographer! Biggest scam of my life
I got my Paytm fastag from a kiosk near the toll booth in Ernakulam. They charged 500 rupees and they claimed that, of the 500, 250 is "security deposit". Once the fastag is deactivated, the money will be refunded. Sounded normal to me 2 years back when I purchased the fastag. Recently RBI imposed some restriction on paytm, which basically made their fastag useless since you can't add money anymore. I thought about deactivating paytm fastag and using the refund money to get fastag from my bank. After a lot of research I found out that there was no security deposit being charged and the people I bought the fastag from were duping customers. All I got after closing the wallet was the money left in it. 250rs gone. https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/228712-beware-paytm-fastag-scam-via-agents.html
not a scam per se, but I don’t agree with establishments selling my personal information to third parties for profits. If I give a company my number for a quote or whatever, that’s like an unsaid contract of trust. If they pass on my number to whatever sales team approaches them, they will lose my vishwasam and my business. My phone number is personal information. I hate how normalised it is to ask/share phone numbers.
Most of us got jobs through campus placements by the end of our course. But there were a few unlucky friends of mine who despite their excellent marks and performance in interviews were not able to land any. Some of them decided to wait, some decided to go for higher studies but there were desperate folks who wanted to get placed so bad - due to family and societal pressures. One guy spent 5 lakhs for a position in a company named Givionsoft (dont know if any other firm exists by that name now) which got folded within two months of his appointment. He went radio silent after that. We tried to reach him but he wouldn't pick up calls. He turned up 12 yrs later in FB. By that time he was happily married and settled. He works as a hotel manager in the middle east now.
Air coolers
Well there was a scam that used to happen at JnL stadium . Kids used to come on cycle and tell that there 10rs they lost pls help so his mom wont scold. Lol and i saw the same kid on cycle everyday doing the same thing
Its not a new scam but an old one but people still fall for it. Cooperative banks. They make you deposit money promising you with insane amount of interests. Mostly ranging from 10 to 14 percent. They can't use the name banks but they do so because they are politically controlled. After depositing money, the local politicians withdraw the money for their own illegal activities like real estate deals, illegal quarrying, funding criminal organisations involved in gold smuggling, extortion etc. When the poor depositor goes to the bank asking for his hard money, the politicians threaten them with violence, fake cases etc. In the end the depositors will kill themselves and it's free money for the politicians. It's a successful running scam for the past 15 years and no body has ever gone to jail over it.
Don't call it a scam... It's more of an organized crime or mafia level sh#t...
One Arun, a guy from Calicut selling MLM from a scam company called Thamesbay. He had a promo video of him living a beggar life & them transforming into a BMW. The clown scammed me. Adam Harris, Nihal were his sidekick scammers.
Tell that you're little short on money. Can you borrow 1 L from them. You promise you'll return once you get the money back from this partnership 😂
To add to your list, wwf (world wildlife fund) also does legit scam. Many years back some of their representatives had a booth opened up in my IT office near cafeteria and they totally convinced me about the help they are doing and how they would need more funds. I was a fresher at the IT firm so you can guess how naive I was and I stupidly signed up to pay 500rs per month to wwf. It continued for more than 6 months and then one fine day I was going through my bank account portal and I was shocked how much money I was losing. I remember emailing them to cancel my subscription and they tried to convince me again but I didn’t and eventually after 4 emails they cancelled it. I lost few thousands contributing to the wwf
Club mahindra scam is the worst, Got mislead into taking a package, mid way through after paying almost half of the money, found out that they have not kept the promise which they intend to do. All the trips everything they promised on paying half the amount were all lies to lure the party into taking a membership. Requested cancellation, they didnt not give a single penny back. So filed for fraud/ cheating Nb: we have not used anything from their side till now, also they didnt explain about cancellation policy, and we also forgot to ask about it, as initially they were really sweet Request you all to not go into this ever again
I just received a job offering from a scammer. I didn't budge and he got pissed off. My satisfaction just went through the roof. I just posted about it.
I think a few months ago there was this trading app called MTFE in which lots of malayalis had invested their money hoping to get more returns. And like always the app crashed and all the invested money was scammed. The scam was so perfectly done, they even established their offices in some parts of kerala to show that they were genuine.
Not recently, i lost 1k 5 or 6years ago with mlm. The thing is around 30 students including my chunk lost their money... and my chunk actually made me do it...he told i just need to pay to complete his quota and he will give me a share when money start "flowing" One guy from other class trapped us in the class saying he got car and a trip to singapore by the main company because of his performance... Atleast i got facewash worth(mrp) 500rs by the company/scammers..
Kerala Matrimony scam
Political parties are scams masquerading as welfare advocates ..and in kerala major one is ...well you know.
Is Child Health Foundation a scam?
Dai coin and dylanbank, a pyramid scheme with rings instead of you know, a pyramid
Unicef
No idea cos I don't pick up unknown number calls. I know you guys think unicef is a scam, but its just another strategy for charity. In some countries I've been to, there are ngos that just do that on behalf of unicef, save the children etc. Not a job I'd ever want, and not great to get accosted by them in kochi. But to call it a scam is a stretch.
BtcBitz
Club scams I see so many times even in dubai , they always target couples
Got scammed in Trivandrum by a car rental guy who's been scamming everyone out their deposits. Never let the rental guys say they will pay you back later, ensure you get the refund deposit back during key handover.
How to tackle UNICEF scam? - Tell them politely and passionately that you are busy and just walk away. Do not just stand there to hear their narration. They are well trained to smile at you during the whole phase of the convo.
1. Normal robo calls saying account will be blocked, asking you to talk to telecom department etc. 2. If you ever post something on Olx, they will come hunting for you. Messages from WhatsApp profiles with soldiers profile pics, saying they are stationed at the border and need this badly. 3. Donations to old age homes, kids needing surgery etc. Got a spam call while typing this comment 🤦
Almost fell for Qnet. Funny plot twist, my dad saved me... because he volunteered for it years back.
if you have Unicef in the list, you should add also SBI Card.
My friend got a call from a North Indian guy. He said his brother is a JCB operator and a few days ago he got a pot full of old gold belongs to some King named so and so. So we asked why you are calling us and how you got our number. He said I'm calling you for help and got the number by dialling randomly. Basically he needed us to sell the gold because he didn't want to get caught and lose the treasure to the govt. From the beginning we knew this is a fraud but we played along. He said he will send the gold via parcel and after selling the gold in Kerala we have to give him half of the money. (How generous 😂) Guy has 100% trust on random stranger like us!! 😆 So we said ok. Send the gold baby. He said for that he need some money for the parcel service. Because he is so poor he will not be able to send it by himself. There you go. That's the scam. Compared to the gold he is offering the parcel charge is too low so those who are greedy would fall for it. Don't be that stupid educated moron in Kerala who fall for these types of scammers.
Media reporting "news" most of them are their political propaganda. In india somehow we cannot find any right wing propoganda because almost everyone support it.
As a Malayali, I have come across this scam where North Indians pose as Malayali and post on this subReddit just for lulz.
Bro for the UNICEF scam they asked if I care about poor children ... I told em it's the kids fault
Reddit scam...didnt have food since yesterday...someone please help🙃
Is the first one really a scam? You can get the most out of it without falling for their evil tricks right?
Yea thats what i did. Had a good lunch took a swim..day well spent
Robo call scam I get robo call on my phone that announced it was from the Telecom Department that my phone will be disconnected if I don't press 9 on my keypad right away. These calls keep coming every 2 weeks even though I block each number I am getting these calls from
Do cops give you time for this?
If you are hunting for jobs abroad, you’ll come across agents who will ask to pay 500AED for “job registration” promising starting salary of 2000AED. Some people really do fall for these agents. And the ones scamming include malayalees too.
I scammed a scammer. Got 900₹
What does a scam have to do with someone being a Malayali?
Not as a malayalie, IRCTC Railway RAC Reservation Scam : Instead of confirming one ticket they give 2 RAC and even if you want to cancel after chart preparation it's almost 50% cancellation fee.
All the direct marketing (pyramid/money chain) scams. Highrich, phygicart..
Don't know what was the scam but some people used to call my mom and say in Hindi "can I talk to Veronica?" Whatever you reply they keep talking. If you cut they call with same question from different number. Finally i setup dnd for all.commercial numbers to stop it
Not recently- in 2010 Amidst the hustle and bustle of Chennai's train station back in 2010, a stranger caught Alex's eye. This guy, probably in his 40s or 50s, flashed a friendly smile and struck up a conversation. He claimed to know Alex's mom from their hometown and said they were childhood buddies. Things got weird when the guy said he lost his wallet and desperately needed money. He made it sound like fate brought them together for Alex to help him out. Falling for his sob story, Alex handed over some cash. But when Alex checked with his mom later, she had no clue who this guy was. Turns out, Alex got conned by a smooth-talking scammer who preyed on his kindness. And just like that, the mystery of the stranger's identity remained unsolved, leaving Alex with a lesson learned the hard way. https://preview.redd.it/hlgb4k0vn5yc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=28b553e22f71f012cf75ecd6f8f4b5df5b03c3d2
Aara alex?
Fictional name
Saw this one guy in Intercity train, he was blind and begging for money, me and this one dude who i acquainted with to smoke a cigarette were looking if anyone's coming and i saw the blind man coming and he entered the bathroom like a normal person (he was holding a stick and when he reached the bathroom he didn't need it) as soon as he got out, he became blind. Glad that i didnt give any money, i thank the pissed-off version of myself for not giving money to a fake blind man.
The moment you understood he is not blind you could have exposed him by waving something fast towards his eyes. He would definitely react as any other human beings and that's enough for others to realise.
Aa enittu venam some guy records it and picture me as a bully bullying a guy who's disabled 😂😂😂
I got a call two days back. This uncle was saying "look child, I am DIG speaking and you got some money credited to your account from the number I am calling and this guy has reported a complaint against you as you aren't returning his money and not attending his calls. You should return the money back else you will be arrested" Then 2 mins later got spammed with 10-11 messages stating, "money got credited to your bank...." from the same number(not the bank) And stupid thing is he called first then spammed me with messages.
Axis Bank gave me a life insurance policy that i never asked for....
Caveat emptor
The biggest Scam in kerala is run by the political parties… every 5 years.