An Education by Eavesdropping

One day in May 2016 (that’s to say yesterday) I had an educative experience by eavesdropping on a couple of characters.

Background

Our family owns a modest little hotel in Kullu town. This being the month of May the hotel is getting its share of customers. One room has been occupied for the last couple of days by a pair of guys in their thirties. Strangely, they’re always busy on their mobile phones and a laptop. There’s third guy too, but he only seems to the fetching-and-carrying type. These guys don’t show much interest in visiting the usual touristy haunts. Their favourite hangout seems to be the hotel rooftop and the steps leading to it. Busy sitting on the steps and yakking away.

I had a splitting headache and staggered up to a room next to those steps. This room isn’t exactly finished yet – my brother stays there – and I hoped for some peace on the hardbed next to the window. This window doesn’t have any glass as yet; only a wire mesh screen and a curtain. My peace and quiet was disturbed by a mobile call taking place on the steps a little more than 2 metres away. I ignored the conversation at first. But then I kept hearing words like Rupees, Credit Cards, Debit Cards. I was kind of drawn into the dialogue, as a passive listener.

The Spiel

The guy was obviously working through a list. He contacted about 7 or 8 people and the general drift of the (to me) one-sided conversation was like this:

“Hello. Good afternoon Sir. Is this Mr Amit (or whatever) speaking? I am Akshay from Onjob, from the Consultancy Department. You had applied through us and paid 28,900 rupees, right?” (The amount varied from Rs 18,000 to 30,000. He had the first few contacts’ amounts down correct. Then down the line he had to work by guesswork and gentle prodding).

“You made the payment online, is that correct?”

“Did you pay by Credit Card or Debit Card?”

“Well, I am sorry to say our Sales Department couldn’t get you a job to your satisfaction. You are to be refunded the amount of Rs. 28,900.”

“No, no, it doesn’t work like that. You see it is our Company policy to pay online payments by online payments, demand drafts by demand drafts… you see, this is Company policy; terms and conditions are there you know”.

If the guy at the other end didn’t give the brush-off – and only a couple of them did – he went on like this:

“You will get the refund after you complete some formalities. In a few minutes I will send you a link and give you a password. You click on that link and feed the password, then fill in the details. The refund amount will be immediately credited into your account within minutes”.

Of course, the conversation had some interesting variations from person to person. One went like this:

“Oh, you have contacted the office in Bangalore? Ye-e-s, we have a branch there. But our Company operates from NOIDA. Our Sales Department is there. Our Consultancy Department works from Faridabad.”

Another variant:

“When you applied, you paid a fee, right?”

“Eighteen hundred rupees? But I think you paid a very heavy amount …”

“Oh, one lakh rupees! I’ll check with the Sales Department to see what amount is due to you as refund. Then you will get the refund in a few minutes directly into your account.”

“OK, when you reach your office (the guy was obviously a techie on the graveyard shift) please come online and we will send you a link and give you a password..” etc.

Then he says in Hindi, “Kehta hai, atthara sau diye hain. Phir keheta hai ek lakh. Isse to main pel doonga” Loose translation: Guy says he paid eighteen hundred. Then he says one lakh. I will pel him. (Pel = squeeze juice from a sugarcane).

Some Interesting Facts

The guy who claims to be Akshay is registered in the hotel under another name. The photocopy of his Adhar Card says he is from Hardoi, UP.

I Googled a bit and found there is indeed a job-placing company called Onjob. There is also one called Injob (is case I misheard). Onjob.in has a website giving two addresses, both in Bangalore. Injob.com also has a website. It is an Italian company; no Indian branch.

There was another interesting fact about Onjob, which was spotted by an alert Sonia Rajput, who works in our office. This site hasn’t been active since mid-2015, at least till yesterday late afternoon. The site gives a phone number – only one number. I tried that number. First try: number busy. Second try: a few rings, then the computerised voice says the number is busy (means he probably cut me off). Third try: it rings and rings. Then the Voice says the number isn't answering. I mutter in Pahari "Swah kha" (eat ash) and hang up.

And Last

As i went back downstairs the second guy, the one who generally spoke little, said in Hindi "So-and-so is online." The last i heard the first guy was speaking on the phone and saying, "Your password is ..." followed by a string of numbers and letters,

I rang up Aditya, who is a techie in the IT Park in Manimajra, Chandigarh and told him the whole thing. His take: These guys may be legitimate and working while on vacation. And if they are not, they aren't using your phone or internet, are they?  So let them be. They can be ex-employees of that company and got the list somehow, which they are trying to milk. If the educated guys on their list are stupid enough to furnish their bank details, let them face the consequences. And you keep an eye on them, in case they skip out of the hotel without paying, coz a crook is after all, a crook. And be sure to save the CCTV pictures of these guys.

PS

Even as i finished typing up the previous paragraph, the phone rang and the guy said he was answering a missed call of yesterday, that he was from Bangalore. He confirmed he is from Onjob. He got quite agitated when i filled him in with the details. I just wanted to know if his company was really handing out refunds, and if the guy claiming to be Akshay was working for him under his real name. He wasn't, hadn't even heard the name. I advised him to alert all his customers/clients to beware of such calls. Now it's up to him, how he tells his clients while handling uncomfortable questions from them.