A software engineer based in Gurgaon shared his conversation with a scammer on X (formerly Twitter). The scammer had initially messaged him, pretending to be a representative of HDFC Bank.
Gaurav Sharan received an SMS claiming his HDFC Bank account had been disabled and that he needed to update his PAN (Permanent Account Number) by clicking a link provided in the message.
As a senior analyst at a top private firm, Sharan immediately recognized the message as a scam and replied wittily to the fraudster.
"Okay bhaiya," he responded.
"Just now open the link and update your pan No. (sic)," the scammer instructed.
Sharan then replied, "Easy to find it is a scamming website. I am a software engineer, I can help you redesign the page."
He added that for ₹20,000, he could help them "redesign (the page) exactly like the HDFC netbanking site."
Surprised by Sharan's response, the scammer asked him to send a sample via SMS.
{{/usCountry}}Surprised by Sharan's response, the scammer asked him to send a sample via SMS.
{{/usCountry}}"Lesson: Never mess with a developer," Sharan posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, sharing screenshots of his conversation with the fraudster.
Take a look at the screenshots of the techie's conversation with the scammer:
In recent months, there have been similar instances of people playing on and interacting with scammers after understanding their motives. In April, Bengaluru resident Chetty Arun shared a thread, along with screenshots of WhatsApp, to show his interaction with a scammer. In the X thread, the scammer opens up to Arun and talks about scamming people for the last ten years. He also explains how the APK files are used to get control of a victim’s phone. Towards the end, the scammer wishes Arun good luck.
The viral thread even caught Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma's attention. He retweeted the post and wrote, “You won’t stop till you read this full thread.”