Journalist Nidhi Razdan offered Fraudulent Job at Harvard University
Journalist Nidhi Razdan, working in NDTV for 21 years, has been a victim of an online phishing attack. Watch our video to know more about it.
Nidhi Razdan had worked with NDTV for 21 years but in June 2020, she had announced on Twitter that she was moving from NDTV to join Harvard University, USA as an Associate Professor to teach journalism. But almost eight months later, she realized that the entire process to hire her was a sophisticated phishing attack to access her bank account, personal data, my emails, my medical records, passport and my devices like my computer and phone.
Nidhi wrote all that happened to her in a blog so that it serves as a lesson to everyone else.
Nidhi wrote: In November of 2019, Nidhi was invited to speak at an event organised by the Harvard Kennedy School. One of the organisers of this event contacted her and said that there was a vacancy for a teacher and if she was interested. Nidhi submitted her CV. A few weeks later she was interviewed online for 90 minutes. She did a basic Google Search and found a journalism degree programme at Harvard Extension School however many people tweeted that there was no such course at Harvard.
She got an email from an alleged Harvard Human Resources person from what appeared to be an official Harvard email ID, with an offer letter and agreement. The offer letter and the agreement appeared to be on a genuine letterhead and contained the signatures of all senior Harvard University officials who actually do hold those positions even today. They also separately emailed her former employers at NDTV and others for recommendation letters. They too did not think anything was amiss. Over the next few months, many emails were exchanged. In these they sought her personal information for a work visa. Nidhi received an official invitation to attend a faculty orientation in March 2020 but that was called off due to the pandemic. That time Nidhi didn't think about it since COVID had suddenly started and lockdowns were being announced.
In June 2020, Nidhi quit NDTV and announced her decision to move to Harvard. She got the class schedules; details of the subjects and the classes were supposed to start online in September 2020 but were postponed due to Covid. She was told that a work visa had been issued and would be sent to her when she travels. However, Nidhi was frustrated with the processes and repeatedly informed the same on email. She was also told that her salary would be paid irrespective from September 2020 but nothing was ever paid to her.
Nidhi felt something was wrong. So, in December, she wrote to the head of HR at Harvard but there was no response. Then she wrote to the office of the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. They replied back to her saying that there was no record of her appointment and that the people claiming to be their HR staff do not exist! She was shocked and wrote back to Harvard asking them to take this matter seriously as there are people impersonating their senior staff and forging their signatures on fake letterheads.
Nidhi’s lawyer read all the emails and realised that this was a massive phishing exercise, maybe aimed at stealing her money and taking her personal data to misuse it. Nidhi filed a police complaint and handed over all the documents and communication. Nidhi feels that she has been an idiot. Nidhi said that she never doubted anything because no one asked her to pay any money. And that there is a lesson everyone that we must never trust anything online. She was angry but was also relieved that she found out before any damage.
