If something feels wrong, it most likely is

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The cyber crime graph continues its incline. The North Region Cyber Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch recently apprehended two women on charges of deceiving people by falsely offering positions as ground staff in prominent airlines.

People have lost sums as large as Rs 10 lakh and more in pursuit of an airline ground staff job. One victim recounted that the accused had impersonated HR professionals from an airline company, instructing him to make payments under the pretence of completing various procedures.

They orchestrated counterfeit interviews had forged airline letterheads and, in certain instances, enlisted other individuals to impersonate selectors. The meticulous details prove this was a well-planned deceit by design.

There are certain red flags to look out for, the first being that genuine HR personnel of companies will not tell candidates to pay money for any interview or enlistment under some guise or the other.

If you do think this is out of the ordinary, pay attention to your intuition. Ask questions, gauge whether the person on the line sounds professional. If there are telephone numbers on a letterhead, do an internet search and see if you get a credible website. Then, call the website numbers or see if they match. These are some ways you can cross check.

If asked to pay, ask why you need to pay money? Do some background research of the HR personnel professing to be from a particular company by calling the company number and asking if so and so person represents the company. All these initiatives may not get answers but you need to try and have everything spot on. Like sharks smell blood, frauds smell desperation, gullibility and confusion and also tend to hurry people up. Keep your wits about you, take your time, be firm but polite and think and re-think to avoid falling into these traps.