Being a 6-month pregnant woman, I had to take off from my regular work as the pregnancy seemed to be complicated and rest was mandatory. Like any middle-class wife, questions started to whorl around my brain-what next for income as the month ran through my regular salary.
I called up my husband and asked what was next He calmed me as he was confident on being the breadwinner for the next full year. Still, the question popped up in between even when the belly in front made me smile and excited.
Next day morning, I started scrolling down through the chrome on work-from-home females and many other options. The social media craze as the rest of the 95% population ran in and I started watching up reels. From doggy reels to baby ones and the reels scroll went on. Suddenly a reel hit me -work from home that is to write notes and send. For each project, we will be paid a salary based on the number of pages being written. The salary in five digits was attractive and tempting. The only thing that was there was the security deposit of around 1370. I surfed on the internet back regarding whether authentic or not and went through a lot of reviews. It all mentioned it as a good work to do from home. Grabbing up all confidence, I started messaging asking regarding the details and sending me all through WhatsApp. I called up my husband and explained to him regarding what I found and the excitement I had of finding an income even when at home. I borrowed money from him and paid them.
After the payment, the real drama started. The message after payment and will check and then no news for 2 days. I messaged them and called them and after umpteen attempts finally I got a message -madam we need a GST amount of 850 and then the post office will deliver me. I was shocked again an amount as 850 was a huge amount for a current no-income person like me. I told them that I could not pay but rather I would like to get a refund and the talk went on. Again after a silence of 1 day, they called me through the social media application -and said they would refund and send a QR code. I sent the QR code and then a message popped up to accept pay from their request. I was confused -rather than a refund I am asked to pay. I argued and argued but they justified telling me I have to click on pay and then the money would reach me. I sensed danger as many fraudulent have been around and I was falling into that trap. I argued continuously but they told me they had paid me. In a rage of anger, I asked them for the screenshot of the payment and then they blocked me.
There I was in an attempt to make it to five digits I lost money. We are all people in this phase -an attractive salary and mouthwatering option we would fall for it but there are hundreds being trapped. Are they humans to loot people? This may not be a jaw-dropping story but this is the reality of every person whose home buys grains that contain their sweat. Slightest disturbance in daily wage we are trapped. Staying safe from looters is also important now. A chance to write made me think that this should be written as they would be hundreds like me falling into these traps. This has also become a pandemic like any other and it's important that we stay safe and authenticate each step.