Survive from the con men

You heard about the guy who had sold Tajmahal to an Arab Seikh, in the 1970s? He had also sold the Red fort, the Rashtrapati Bhawan and the Parliament building !!!!

Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava, or Natwarlal, belonged to a rare breed of crooks called ‘thought criminals’. He did not need a gun or weapons to rob people of their hardearned cash or stickup a shop. His expertise lay in vanishing not only from the scene of crime but also from jails all over the country. By 1987, India’s greatest con man had escaped from prison 10 times, which included 7 times in UP alone! He boasted that no prison in India could hold him and as long as there was a dishonest cop, he would always find a way to get out! What is most impressive about the life, crimes and escapes of Natwarlal is how seamlessly it leaves the realm of facts and enters the sphere of myth It takes something special for names of people or things to be turned into verbs. You need to be able to capture the public’s imagination as a unique entity. If you are fearless, you are called Sher Khan and if you are a manipulative personality in public life, in all likelihood, you’ll be called Natwarlal.

It is said that you can’t cheat an honest man. It’s because the honest men are not greedy and the con business runs entirely runs on a singular emotion of the people, which is greed. But this is not entirely true. I myself has been a victim, and I have seen many more basically honest people having momentary lapse of reason, taking impulsive and stupid decisions and taking people at their face value, expecting that because they themselves are honest – these people will appreciate and respect that and will not cheat them.

There is an inherent lacunae in our basic training. Our schools teach us a lot of things, mostly crap, and omit a few small unimportant things like how to think, how to take decisions, when and how much angry or stupid you could be, how to survive in situations, how to choose people in your lives, how to cross streets and other people, how to control your emotions, how to take over the reins of your minds etc. The result is that we make the biggest mistakes in the biggest of the decisions as we try to believe the unbelievable

Remember Tray Whitney in the fascinating book If Tomorrow comes by Sidney Sheldon? The simple honest girl at the glorious phase of her life became the victim of situation and some unscrupulous people and was shattered to nibbles. Later, with indomitable spirit and the lust to survive she fought back, avenged the people responsible, started to learn things with a keen mind and intuition, developed herself into a beautiful and extra-ordinary swan and became a queen of con, also finding the beautiful Prince of Con on the way. You just can’t help falling in love with her, just like Daniel Cooper, as I myself can testify. She has shown how people can change, that consequences change the mind and the way of thinking, from which can arise new goals and dreams. All the worst she did experience, the experience became her treasure, which she later used to protect herself, her life and her reputation. She became tricky and wise, she made people respect her.

The book had shown a few basic rules of con, how to deceive stupid gullible and greedy people. One classic example was how Jeff Stevens had simply put an ad in a newspaper asking for $1 for a beautiful object, saying it was the last chance. And thousands of dollars poured in.

·      See some real life examples that I have encountered in my own life, in the last 20 years :

• ·                   I have probably received till now about 500 mails saying that I have won a big lottery for varied (usually many millions) amounts, and asking me to furnish all my details immediately. Not once I answered, but I have seen in newspapers how people  often lose a lot of money in this way

   

  ·                   Have received at least 8-10 calls, usually from someone who claimed to be a labourer, from a remote district like Bankura or Purulia. Claimed that he and a couple more were digging at a place for a construction and have found a very old pot full of coins and they seem to be very old gold coins. They have clandestinely removed it to their place and now want to sell them at a throwaway price. Would I be interested to buy? They are very poor and would be happy only with some money etc. etc. Once I played along for a few days, it was fun, insisting that they travel to my place with it, but they said they will be immediately exposed and I should travel to theirs. If I did, I would be immediately kidnapped and my family would have been served with a notice for ransom money

   

  ·                   Received at least 100/200 emails / calls / messages that my yahoo a/c or gmail or SBI ATM card or anything of that sort, is being deactivated and I should immediately confirm my date / do it on the link provided  etc. I never answered these emails as I knew the site will be a fake with Trojan software / virus, but played along a few times on the calls. Once I spoke to the gentleman for 15 minutes, showing that I am very confused and afraid and don’t know what to do and it will be a big problem for me as I have a significant amount of money in that account which I will need after a few days etc. Finally he took down all my details (Ha ha) and even my PIN etc. Then when he was asking the branch of the bank, I said Dicson Road (branch of my old Natwest Bank Account), he was confused and suspicious. He said where it is in Kolkata ? I said it is in Blackpool. He said State Bank has no such branch !!! I said ohh not SBI, I have this account in Barclays Bank. He took 1 full minute to abuse me in the filthiest unspeakable expletives and, then hung up, I was laughing uncontrollably.  These are usually called the Jamtara gangs, as per their main centres’ and the operations were usually run initially by Nigerians (just like somalians who are worldwide experts on naval piracy).

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  ·        The pay now enjoy later schemes, like the Timeshare Holidays. On this I plan to write a whole article, could be a small book. Don’t trust anyone expect the Mahindra holidays. All the rest the thieves, some may not cheat you the whole money but their business model is so complex and you will be squeezed in so many ways that it will not be exactly profitable at all, but you will lose you independence of travel. Some are full cheats, and often are mafias, like Country Vacations, against whom there are thousands of complaints and FIRs all over the country but nothing happen to them.

   

  ·                   Pay now use later scheme also can take the life insurance industry in a limited membership. For the Non-life, its ok to choose any provider, but as a subject matter expert (I have the highest honours in India and 2nd highest in UK in Insurance practice and experienced the industry from inside for more than a decade, as a specialist in Insurance software also), I would always suggest that you only have your life insurance policies from the state-owned provider only. I can give you at least 5 important reasons for it. Because people don’t understand finance, even less insurance, they often take wrong decisions in choosing the provider and the policy type, not correspondent with their specific unique needs and means, while the smart agents with ties, take them for a ride more often than not.

   

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·                   ·        About 5/6 years ago, a man caught me up at our market and said that his things are stolen with money and he has come for medical treatment. Only some dollars he has which he wants to sell, at a much lower rate, would I take it ? I understood from his accent and manners that he was Bangladeshi, probably muslim and ostensibly a criminal. I was going off that evening to IIM Lucknow on some work, for a week. I sent a mail to the DC Detective Department, and went off. After 3 days, a SI from our Police Station called me up and spoke to me for an hour. I gave all the details. He came to my house after 5 days, after I returned and informed that this gang has already struck 4 times and cheated lacs out of those people, with original dollar notes at the top and the rest fake notes and sealing the packet beautifully, but there is no clue. I called the guy and acted, under the Sis guidance, put myself for a bait, and that finally led to the arrest of 5 guys, all muslim Bangladeshi criminals who use West Bengal as a safe haven and has all relevant papers, easily made in connivance of the ruling party.

 

·                   The credit card companies are legal conmen who has seen the fall of way too men, who don’t understand the tactics and are careless about it. Will write a separate article on this. People are too callous and careless about the credit cards and treat it as easy money. I myself, in 20 years of my credit cards, which now have quite high limits, have redeemed about 2 lacs of points but never ever gave any finance charges or penalty and never ever took out cash on any one of them.

People need some training in these crucial aspects of life, just to survive in the jungle. Unfortunately, people are not aware themselves and how they will pass it on . 

Some simple rules one should learn by heart and practice, to survive from these situations are::  

• 1)    DO not be greedy. Anybody wants to sell you dollars or gold or anything expensive at a very cheap rate, even a land,  that is a tell-tale sign that it is a con operation.
• 2)    Lottery, of any type and description, are con. I have never ever bought a lottery ticket in my life, you don’t do it either
• 3)    Never believe anyone who stands to be profited from the deal. Ask for an independent opinion. Doctors or CAs or Advocates are exempted as they take you as clients and are paid for their advices only, though a few doctors are often to quick to conclude that a surgery is a must !!
• 4)    Take independent learned opinion about your financial and insurance planning, if needed paying reasonable advisory fees. It will save you a lot of invisible money.
• 5)    Be very very prudent about using your credit cards. And pay the bills timely and on a mandatory basis. Plan all your other expenses after this
• 6)    Never ever take a loan for unnecessary luxury expenses. A loan should be used for utmost emergency or asset creation only
• 7)    Try to learn and understand some basic aspects of finance.
• 8)    Try to learn investment. Earnings cannot make you rich, unless you are Satya Nadella or Sundar Pichai. Particularly, you have to learn investing in Shares and Real estates, the main two avenues. Then, you cannot depend on the conmen who will give you investing tips on shares, these are often conmen. Learn about fundamental based investing, not get rich quick schemes.
• 9)    Be very very sensitive about CIBIL scores, and try to learn a few thing about how it is affected, both ways.
• 10) While buying online except very big sites like Amazon or Flipcart etc., read the comments and reviews first, then buy. A year ago my daughter had bought from a site, paid 1650/- for 4 dresses which seemed to be dirt cheap. The items never came and the site just vanished after sometime. Then we saw they have done this with thousands of people. 
• 11) Anytime you find a deal that is too sweet, it is a big suspect. In Facebook, you will often see ads from Peter Cat that promises Buy 1 Get 2 for the very popular plate Chello Kebab. They asked to call a number and book. Thousands of people have ordered and got cheated. Now they have started the same game in the name of Haldiram. 
• 12) Real estate is a big quicksand for the gullible. There are too many factors and nuances of Real estate investing. It is not necessarily buying a flat from a fancy name promoter where you are the chicken for slaughter from the word GO. The real buttery opportunities need classy experienced eye and a gambler's nerve to snatch it quickly. But just keep it in mind that too many people sell the same land at half price to 7 people also or there could be big legal problems which the seller will not tell you till everything is done or even then. Just beware

You can’t survive meeting the conmen, they are everywhere, but surviving from their stories need skills and experience, and attitude, and training.