How the other half scams

Years ago, when landlines were still common and Internet shopping was not, I got a phone call from a policeman, who said he was in Selfridges and did I know where my credit card was? Suppressing the triggered memories of It’s 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?, I said, yes, yes, I did. He pressed on. Was I sure? Because someone in Selfridges was trying to use it. Could I go look? Laziness and certainty led me to balk. I also puzzled over this unlikelihood: a policeman in central London is looking me up in the phone book? Wouldn’t he call the bank, if anyone? “I’m sure,” I said. And then, on a whim, “Which bank is it?” “Lloyds.” “Wrong! But thanks for playing.” End of call. The scam with which Mumbai-based finance and technology journalist and podcaster Soumya Gupta opens her investigation of India’s scam economy, Bharat Bluff: Inside the Cons of India’s Internet Revolution also starts with a call from a “policeman” but heads rapidly for terrifying. The policeman who calls a…