We live in interesting times, we double-check a ₹500, restaurant bill before paying, or will spend hours researching the net before a buying a few hundred rupees, birthday present for children. But will transfer ₹50,000 to a stranger in minutes because of a “friend” they haven’t spoken to in decades, requested it on ‘Facebook messenger’.
This, my dear reader, is the story of how a long-lost friend of mine got scammed—and how my “fake self”-turned out to be more persuasive than my “real self”.
It all started with a phone call. An unrecognised number popped up on my screen, and as per the protocol setup on my iPhone, a necessity in today’s world, my phone and I ignored it. After all, if it’s important, they call again, right? Well, they did not once but four times. Prompting me to get on the ‘TrueCaller’ app, to discover that the caller was a friend from yester-years—someone I hadn’t spoken to in decades; on returning the call I was dismayed to discover that she had just been taken for a ride.
Apparently, some digital imposter had set up a fake Facebook profile with my name and picture, sent her friend request with a casual little “wave,” and, in a moment of either overwhelming nostalgia or temporary amnesia, she accepted.
What followed was a textbook scam: “Hiii” & a few friendly messages, a plea for urgent financial help, and an ask for ₹25,000. Without hesitation, she transferred the money.
The scammer, sensing an easy target, asked for another ₹25,000. Again, she sent it. And just as the fraudster was probably rubbing his hands in glee, he pushed for more—because, really, why stop when the ATM is still dispensing cash?
That’s when she finally paused. Something didn’t feel right. Maybe it was the sheer audacity of it, maybe it was a sudden flicker of common sense, but at last, she did what she should have done at the beginning—she tried to contact me.
Now, my first reaction when I heard all this? “How stupid can you be?!”, I blurted.
I mean, in today’s world, scams are everywhere. You’d think an educated, intelligent & street smart person would know better.
Who just hands over money like this? Even when your actual relatives ask for money, you at least pretend to think about it before saying no!
But then, I sat back an epiphany & a slightly uncomfortable realization hit me. This wasn’t just stupidity—this was emotion at play.
For those few moments, when she saw my name pop up, it wasn’t about logic. It was about trust, about an old friendship she hadn’t thought of in years suddenly resurfacing.
She wasn’t dealing with a stranger—she was dealing with me (or so she believed). And in that moment of sentimental blindness, her brain bypassed the usual filters of scepticism and went straight to “Of course, I’ll help!”
And isn’t that how scams work? Not through sophisticated hacking, not through clever manipulation—just by tapping into the one thing that overrides reason: emotion.
Of course, looking at the situation from a slightly wicked angle, there’s something quite hilarious about the whole thing. My ‘real self’’-ignored her calls as she didn’t feature in my contact list; but my fake self’-managed to scrooge ₹50,000 out of her. That’s some top-tier marketing right there.
What hurt my ego a little that, after decades of no contact, her first assumption was that I was in financial distress.
And the biggest & a bit sad joke of all? That instead of just calling me first, she assumed a few Facebook messages were enough proof of my desperate need for money. This is the digital equivalent of an old-era scam of believing that a Nigerian prince really wants to transfer you $5 million. At least there was an entrapment set in basic human nature of greed that one would get to retain $2 million; “What was the scamsters entrapment in this case? I wonder!”
But let’s be fair—we all have our moments of foolishness. We all have times when we act on impulse instead of logic. And the lesson here isn’t just about avoiding scams—it’s about recognizing when our emotions are making our decisions for us.
So, the next time an old friend ‘WhatsApps you or FaceBook messages’ you asking for money, don’t rush to be their saviour. Take a deep breath, count till 10, and call them, especially if you haven’t spoken to them in donkey’s years!
Deep Kapuria is the Chairman of The Hi-Tech Group of Companies comprising The Hi-Tech Gears, The Hi-Tech Engineering Systems, The Hi-Tech e-Soft, and Novus Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz. The Group has manufacturing, R&D and engineering facilities in India, Canada and USA. He is also the Past Co-Chair of Digital Economy and Industry 4.0 Task Force of B20, 2018 Argentina and Past Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on International Trade & Trade Policy.
