Pls use caution and common sense - IMP PLS READ - U COULD BE NEXT

[hemantwaghe]

Shocking to hear this but not surprised. I wish they get well soon.
Our forum is filled with personal details from member's star signs to their age and what they do to how much they earn.


No offense to anyone but guys refrain from posting personal details. Use the MESSAGE BOX.
Regards

Taking this further please do not start threads which requires too much personnel information like what do you do ? what is your source of income?

Mods there was such threads which asked what members do for leaving...please can the thread be deleted?

 

[sound_advice]

Taking this further please do not start threads which requires too much personnel information like what do you do ? what is your source of income?

Mods there was such threads which asked what members do for leaving...please can the thread be deleted?

Agree with Hemanth.
Please remember " ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE "

 

[Vj@HiFi]

This is indeed unbelievable but very possible.

Long time ago I was a member of a forum and used my full name as my moniker, but I am careful now, of course that doesn't protect me one bit, but I make it that wee bit more difficult.

What saddens me is the fact that one instance like this is going to make all those helpful souls (should I take names, no, no..) think twice (or thrice). Just be careful, guys, there are many trolls out there, lurking... But you already know that.

MB, for your friend, I have only one thing to say. Time will heal everything, again he knows that...

 

[thevortex]

Ram - nice of you to let us all know.

Your friend's experience was terrible beyond words. Trust is what makes the world go round. That is the only way I live, for one. When you trust you have to be prepared to have the occasional rebound. But that should not stop us from trusting. Just think - we might not have made all those 99 friends. Yes we probably made a couple of enemies. But I will take the 99 friends along with the 2 enemies. Convenient ratio I know, but still . This was more for your friend than anything else - if at all it helps.

 

[venkatcr]

@ venkat - i assure you that (when i come to chennai and stay with you) that I will not drug/sedate you and steal all your audio gear!

How about giving me the keys to your Honda or some such insurance, eh? On the other hand if I offer you a few glasses of Green Label, I am sure you will forget everything else. Much easier and nicer than drugging or sedating, eh?

Cheers

 

[suri]

How about giving me the keys to your Honda or some such insurance, eh? On the other hand if I offer you a few glasses of Green Label, I am sure you will forget everything else. Much easier and nicer than drugging or sedating, eh?

Cheers

hehehe!!! - absolute(ly)!!!

cheers

 

[srikarkav]

Hi Ram,

Thanks for posting this.In hind sight your friend may seem to be reckless and naive.But i am aware this could have happened to many of us here.Its unbelievable the ways con men and women employ to pull a fast one on unsuspecting victims. All my life i have taken people at face value and some times suffered for it.But not to this extent.Well its the way life goes.

I think you are the best bet for your friend to come out if this agony.I know you have been there.Though not done in by humans but fate.Share your experience with him and make him stronger and tell him tomorrow is another day as you have found out.

'Ithuvum kadanthu pogum'

cheers,
sri

 

[max123_ind]

Dangerous times we live in..

I will rephrase Spiderman's world to today's context.. "With great gear comes greater risk"....

I never thought a city like Hyderabad could have snatchers who would snatch mobiles from your hands while you were walking on deserted roads in the night.. it happened to me like 2 years ago.

I usually walk home late from work thru some shortcuts/gulleys that are "slightly dark"... has houses around a park but not many people around at that time.. I was blissfully listening to my iPhone with those "trademark white Apple earphones".. Since I was listening to it and looking at some SMSs I didn't notice a bike slowly approaching me. Then the pillion rider on the bike grabbed the earphone with lot of force... immediately they sped off.
I was totally shocked, by the time I realized what was happening... the phone, along with the earphone was, for a minute in the air (bullet time in Matrix).. I then held the phone with both fists and didn't let go.

All of this was happening while the bike snatchers were going at full speed. And this was planned and executed "SO METICULOUSLY" that they immediately took a turn since that was almost end of the street and the lightining was poor too.. I could not see the nameplate of the bike either. The earphones are gone.. at least I have the phone. If it was something like Ipod shuffle it surely would have gone.

My nephew's incident was a year ago. He was checking his SMS and walking in a main road with so many people moving around.. his was a Nokia phone costing around 12,500.. they came ans snatched out of nowhere.. this too was less than 20 yeards from a police station. he went there to lodge a complaint.. the police told him it's hard to find stolen phones.. they gave him a ledger-style book where there were names and model numbers .. all those guys have lost their mobiles in same way. None of those cases solved.. but those were neatly organized.. you have to write your mobile model, your name and they said they "might" call you if they catch such a person... it's been a year.. still no call.

A colleague got her mobile snatched just as she was walking out of office.. they pulled with so much force she fell down, poor thing.

Lessons to be learnt are :
(1)Always hold your phone to your left ear when you are walking on the left of the road and vice versa so that it's not easy for mobile snatchers.
(2)Use main roads when walking home at night, even if it takes a little more time. Avoid shortcuts.
(3)Last but not least avoid the white earphones.. you're asking for trouble.

This is a long post, I know. But i wanted to share my experiences so that if it benefits even one person it's worth it.

Have fun and be careful.

 

[akrish01]

MBR,

I still don't understand why your friend Mr. E allowed the stranger to bring his own drinks to his place & had them too!!!! This is something everybody has to be careful about. In case you are having such a meet at home, you should also let the security guard know (if you are staying in an apt complex or community). Also let the neighbours know that you are having some guests so that they can be alert & nab them if they spot anything suspicious. It also beats me how the con man made away with the loot without anyone noticing it - was it in an independent house or a apt complex?


Akrish

 

[kindofblue]

Thank you for posting this and letting everyone know.

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Real shocking post. Hope the guy and girl come back to normal faster. This post will helps other to be cautious

 

[pksnathan]

Dear all,
I am writing this with some bitter taste. I have heard these incidents in US but now to hear that it happened to my best buddy makes me sit straight and think.

For obvious reasons, I am not naming him. Lets call him Mr.E (Enthu bugger that he is). He is majorly into gaming and you will see him a lot active in Techenclave and most of the forums and so on. At 25, this guy is full of energy and world at his feet. Goes out of his way to help anyone. His posts are always well thought out, informative, and does everything that he can. Infact, thats how i became a friend to him when I had gone to his house to check out a Graphic Card he had sourced from US even before it hit US market. We instantly hit off and became very close friends. You get his profile right, not going to go more into detail. He is like many in our forum and similar to Venkat CR when it comes to explanation and help.

Two tuesdays before, he gets a PM from a member saying he loves his rig and would love to meet him. So Mr.E, as always, promptly responds and send his number and asks him to call up. They chit chat on phone and the member introduces himself as a Team Lead in a reputed call center. So they decide to hook up on friday evening for a session on Audio and Gaming as both are into it. The member checks with Mr.E if he can get his girl friend along as she also loves this. Mr.E the gracious person he is says, yes buddy pls do. My GF also will be there so we can have family jam. So all set.

Friday:
The member calls Mr.E and arrives at his place sans his girl friend. Mr.E welcomes and they get talking of stuff. The member says his GF will join in an hour as she is completing some person work. The member gives them tropicana apple and KF beer. They get talking and Mr.E talks about his childhood and how his dad is US and no mother and enjoying life here. His GF, very nice girl, also gets into the conversation and talk about their planned marriage etc and serving chats to them.

They all have the Beer and apple juice and some snacks.

Saturday morning 7 am:
Mr.E wakes up to find all his belongings gone, money rigs everything. Still dizzy and his GF still unconscious, rushes to hospital. They have been sedated with a drug but nothing serious. They get treated in OP and are back home.

The harsh reality is everything gone, rigs, money, LCDs laptop etc etc.

The girl is in shock, she is still not out of it and is under psychiatric treatment. She is recovering well and both have moved to Chennai now as we are all here and its easy for them to get back to life. Mr.E has no smile on his face, is always silent now, we are doing our best to get him back to life.

I am little happy with this, why?
1. They stole just the money and stuff
2. The girl was not touched, u know what all could have happened in this MMS crazy world
3. Both are alive with no injuries nothing though the internal ones are something we all are fighting with them

Now, why I narrate this here:
1. We have many members here similar to Mr. E, who invite people home for audition
2. We have many members here who goes to someone's house to check their gear

We all have done that BUT pls pls pls ensure you use caution and common sense before you invite someone or visit someone.

• Do not invite/visit a newbie.
• Be sure that you know about the person
• Meet at a common place first
• Do use due diligence first
• If you invite someone home, ensure you have a crowd and not just you and your family.

Sorry about the long post, I will be heart wrenched to see something like this happen to my fellow HFVians.

Its good to help, pls ensure by helping you dont end up needing HELP!

Update:
1. The intension of this thread is to make everyone aware of such dangers so we are aware of it.
2. Do not ask me for who it is. He is not a HFV member
3. Thanks for your PMs, I don't need contacts in police/detective agencies.
4. Read this thread as an informative post
5. Instead of telling what needs to be done (call cops etc), it will be more useful if you can list your experience or tell what you think are ways we can avoid it.

Dear Ram,
Very sorry to hear to what happened to your friend and as a fellow human being to our friend.All the more I am happy to note that nothing happened to him bodily and particularly to the girl.If anything had happened to her how life would have been to Mr.E.He will have to answer to the police and it goes without saying how police would treat an innocent man in our country as though he is the culprit.Putting myself in his place I shudder to think of the consequences.Your thread is a warning for all of us-never trust a person blindly.It is difficult to identify good from the bad from the looks and dress.Your thread is an eye opener for all of us.
Thanking you,
pksnathan

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

The newspapers daily remind me that the "modern world" is coming to India.

In London, you do not ever use your phone as you get out of the tube (train) station, or keep it in such a way (string around the neck, etc) that it is obvious. If you must use it on the street, you take care what street it is. You never leave any bag or coat visible in your parked car and you always remove the front panel from your ICE HU. Failure to do so means a car full of broken glass, lost property and all the hassle that goes with being a victim of theft --- and it is even more depressing when what they broke in for was an empty bag.

It is dangerous to judge the world by newspaper reports, but, in so far as they are any sort of measure of safety on the streets, for instance, it is not getting better. You can say that newspapers have never been in the business of publishing good news, but surely, five to ten years ago, there were not daily reports of chain snatchings and theft from the houses of the elderly?

This particular crime is particularly distressing on this particular forum --- where discussing the sometimes-very-expensive equipment that we own is part of what we are here for.

 

[pratimbayal]

Hi Ram

Any update of your friend and his girl freind . How are they now ?


Pratim

 

[unleash_me]

This particular crime is particularly distressing on this particular forum --- where discussing the sometimes-very-expensive equipment that we own is part of what we are here for.

Couldn't agree with you more.

 

[allajunaki]

Thanks Ram for sharing this!
Goes on to show how "White" Collar thieves lives amongst us. On the side note, do you think this guy does this out of necessity or greed?
In India, most of the crimes are out of necessity, pick pocketrs are from lower class, in some way motivated by hunger.

But the way Mr.E has been conned suggests that this guy did this for his personal gain. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised that con man has all this in his home now.


But overall I feel Mr.E should not worry too much, for property lost can always be regained. But not health. He should be happy that all too obvious disaster did not happen, his GF is safe.
The guilt will remain with him, but then again, such experiences teach to fend yourself against bigger dangers that lurks in life.
After all, "What doesn't kill you, can only make you stronger". Right?

So tell Mr.E the same, ask him to be a bit more careful next time. For, if he doesn't the biggest thing he stole from him is not his LCD or his Rig, but his very spirit and life. And that is the biggest loss one can face.
Remember, life will always give sucker punch some point or the other, but the ones that face the blow and still stand up are the ones that will go up

Ok, I will stop my rant now

 

[cooltoad]

Thanks for bringing this out Ram, should be an eye opener for everyone. I remember many kind members of this forum inviting me for an audition without even knowing me. Will this be the beginning of the end of such trust?

We'll pray for your friend's speedy recovery.

Regards.

 

[suri]

Remember, life will always give sucker punch some point or the other, but the ones that face the blow and still stand up are the ones that will go up

yes allajunaki - but that has much to do with the chemicals in one's brain -

and those chemicals have all to do with the genes that the concerned person inherited -

so who will face up? - and who will fold like a pack of cards? - is a delicate game of dice!

a game that god plays for his/her pleasure.

 

[V Madhu]

Thanks MBR for sharing your friend's sad experience. Its a lesson for all the people out there to be more cautious. I will say my prayers for your friend and his GF to get back to normal as soon as they can.
In our org we have trainings related to information security and have come across a topic on hacking thru social engineering, that aims to deceive people and get hold of confidential information by socializing.
One thing i repeatedly see on this forum, inspite of several people warning, is many give their personal mobile #/email id openly on the posts. While members give personal details in good faith it could end up in sad incidents like this when it lands with wrong people.

regards,
Madhu

 

[V Madhu]

Do you think its time we make a thread on how to be self-secured and what information can be safely shared on social networking sites like ours?