Scam Alert: Oye Chor!

Mrs. Subba, a retired schoolteacher in Gyalshing, has always locked her doors carefully. She checks the gas before sleeping. Last winter, her phone rang. A polite voice, speaking fluent Hindi, told her that her bank account would be blocked in twenty-four hours unless she verified her details immediately. He knew her bank's name. He sounded official, even urgent, the way a real bank officer might sound. Frightened, she read out the OTP that arrived on her phone. Within minutes, forty thousand rupees, a good part of her monthly pension savings, was gone.

Mrs. Subba did nothing wrong by the standards of the world she grew up in. She simply did not know that this world had changed, and that today's thief does not need to break a lock. He only needs a phone call, a link, or a fake message that looks exactly like it came from her own bank. More people now do their banking on phones but it has also opened a new door for a different kind of crime.

Older people are often targeted the most, simply because banking apps and OTPs are still unfamiliar territory for them. But young people are not safe either. Students looking for a job or a loan can all be tricked by a message, too. This is not a sign that we are careless, but fraud today is designed to gain human trust and use it against us.

An OTP is the key to your account; would you hand over your house key to a stranger just because he says he is from the electricity department? No bank, office, or company will ever call and ask for your OTP, your full card number, or your password. This one sentence, if remembered, could prevent a large share of these losses.

Perhaps, it is time we teach both our children and our parents, to guard information like they would guard a house key. Digital safety needs quiet vigilance and awareness, passed down the way we have always passed down our culture.