Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
A recent crime exposed in Bihar's Nawada district reveals a troubling reality about India today. Scammers promised young men ₹10 lakh to impregnate women through a fake "fertility programme." While this might sound unbelievable, the fact that people fell for it shows us serious problems with unemployment, desperation, and how easily people can be fooled online.
How the Scam Worked?
The fraud was carefully designed to take advantage of people's psychology. The scammers didn't just offer money; they offered ₹10 lakh, which equals many years of income for unemployed young people. They made it look real by creating fake documents, false success stories, and an atmosphere of secrecy that made victims think they had found a special opportunity.
The process was simple but effective. Scammers used social media and messaging apps to send messages claiming that wealthy families or agencies needed help with having children. When people showed interest, the scammers had private conversations with them, sharing photos, documents, and stories that seemed real enough to be believed.
The final step was asking for a registration fee between ₹2,000 and ₹10,000. This amount was carefully chosen, and it was small enough that it seemed like a reasonable investment compared to the promised ₹10 lakh reward, but large enough to make serious money when collected from many victims. After receiving the fee, the scammers disappeared, leaving victims without their money and feeling humiliated.
The Dark Side of the Digital Age
This Nawada case is part of a larger pattern of internet crime in India, where scammers increasingly take advantage of economic hardship and lack of digital knowledge. Police departments across Bihar and other states report increasing cases of fraud promising easy jobs, quick loans, miracle medical treatments, or unusual ways to make money. What connects them all is emotional manipulation, where offers are designed to bypass logical thinking by triggering hope, fear, or desperation.
The internet revolution has brought enormous benefits, but it has also created new ways to exploit people. Unlike traditional frauds that required face-to-face meetings and left physical evidence, internet scams can be carried out remotely, across state and national borders, with very little infrastructure. Scammers use fake identities, multiple bank accounts, and digital platforms to reach thousands of potential victims while remaining virtually impossible to trace.
Police efforts to track digital evidence and seize devices show that law enforcement is adapting, but the challenge remains huge. Once money moves across multiple accounts, especially if it crosses international borders then getting it back becomes extremely difficult. Therefore, prevention becomes far more important than catching criminals afterwards.
What Needs to Change
Quick police action, as shown in this case with multiple arrests and seized devices, is essential and welcome. However, enforcement alone cannot solve a problem rooted in deeper issues like unemployment, lack of education, and social shame.
First, we need widespread programs to teach digital skills, particularly in rural areas and among vulnerable groups. These programs should go beyond basic computer use to include critical thinking about online information, recognising warning signs in offers, and understanding basic internet safety. People need to learn that legitimate opportunities don't demand money upfront or operate through secret channels.
Second, we must create reporting systems that protect victims' dignity. Anonymous reporting options, victim support services, and public awareness campaigns that remove the shame from fraud reporting would encourage more people to come forward. When victims feel safe reporting crimes, the system improves and police gather better information, warnings reach potential victims faster, and scammers face greater risks.
Third, addressing root causes like unemployment requires sustained economic growth and job creation. When young people have real opportunities for good employment, they become much less vulnerable to desperate schemes.
Our Shared Responsibility
The Bihar fertility scam is strange in its details but completely predictable in its pattern. It exploits the same weaknesses that countless other scams have targeted - economic desperation, lack of information, and social isolation. What changes are the specific details and how the scam is delivered?
When financial desperation meets false information in the digital age, people's dignity inevitably gets damaged. The young men who fell for this scheme aren't just victims of criminal fraud, they're casualties of larger system failures that leave people vulnerable, uninformed, and ashamed to seek help.
As a society, we must move beyond mocking victims or expressing shock at how bold scammers are. We need to build systems that prevent exploitation, support those who've been deceived, and address the underlying conditions that make such frauds possible in the first place.
Education, understanding, and open conversations about both internet safety and social shame aren't just nice ideals, they're practical necessities for crossing the digital age with dignity intact. The Nawada case should serve as a wake-up call, not just about this particular scam, but about the broader environment that enables such exploitation. Until we address these deeper issues, we're merely treating symptoms while the disease continues to spread.
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