SCAMMED

Even the most savvy among us can be duped. I learnt that harsh lesson myself when an urgent and heartfelt plea arrived in my inbox

- Bruce Grierson

The email popped up on my screen at 6:45 a.m. on 24 December last year. I’d already been awake for hours, working to a deadline. It was from someone I know quite well: the minister of my Unitarian church. “I need a favour from you,” it read. “Email me as soon as you get my message.”

“Ahoy, Ron,” I replied.

A friend was in the hospital battling cancer, he said, and he’d just learnt she was scheduled for surgery that night. Could I possibly pick up some iTunes gift cards?

“She needs the cards to download her favorite music and videos to boost her confidence on her next phase of surgery.” He’d do it himself, but he was tied up, he explained. “I will surely reimburse you as soon as I can.”

“OK,” I emailed back.

“Thank you so much, Bruce,” my correspondent replied. Then he got down to business. I was to buy $300 (around ₹22,000) of iTunes credit. (That’s quite a lot of music, I thought.) “I need you to scratch the silver lining at the back of each card to reveal the redemption code, then take a snapshot and send them directly to Sharon’s email.” He gave the address. “God bless.”

God bless? We’re Unitarians. Optimistic agnostics at best. The G-word doesn’t come up much. Totally weird sign-off there. I assumed Ron’s mind was still on the dire circumstances of his friend Sharon.

“I can pick up the cards around noon and engineer this by tonight,” I replied.