बिज़र्रे - वि इन्स्ताल्मेंट

19. UNITED AIRLINES OF USA DECIDES TO CHARGE OBESE FLYERS FOR 2 SEATS

The airlines wrote on its website: ‘ those deemed too fat to fly must either purchase a ticket for an additional seat, or purchase an upgrade to a cabin with seats that address the problem.’ Flight attendants will search for passengers who can’t buckle the seat belts or put their armrests down. In case no other seats are available on a flight, the overweight flyer will be grounded until two adjacent seats can be found on the next plane out.

My comments: Depending on how this new measure turns out in the case of United Airlines, other Airlines in due course would decide what they should do. But here is a genuine problem of Airlines. Capacity in airline is largely measured by weight. So if a fatty occupies a seat, apart from the fact of his making the person sitting next to him uncomfortable, the plane may have to offload some cargo to accommodate the fatty. Junk food, lack of exercise, etc., have resulted in more and more fattys inhabiting our wonderful mother earth. As it is on cards that there would be more and more fattys, at one time or another the problem of fat of an individual gets translated to the service provider, be it in bus or cinema hall. Fattys must unite and agitate against this discrimination but where will they find a place to sit down together and chalk out their strategy against the lean and mean people, who think they have inherited the earth.

20. SCAMSTERS DUPE AN EXECUTIVE OF Rs. 40 lAKH.

They lured him with promise of reward to the tune of Rs. 6 crore. The scamsters floated fake websites of banks and courier service providers to execute the fraud. The scamsters contacted the victim and told him that he had won an award from a software giant. Later a man claiming to be representative of an international legal firm contacted the victim and sought his personal details in order to put the process of handing him the prize money. The victim was directed to contact the forwarding agency which was supposed to help him transfer his winning booty. The forwarding agency first asked for Rs. 3.2 lakhs for the consignment delivery which was paid by the victim. He was then told that one person – a ‘ diplomat’ – had been deputed to remit the money to him in India. Then the scamsters sent an e-mail to victim from one of their fake website in the name of prestigious UK Bank informing the victim that for the transfer of funds they needed a non residential tax clearance as well as an order fee of Rs. 3.5 lakhs, since the victim was not a British citizen. The victim accordingly deposited the money. The so called diplomat and bank contacted the victim for more money. By this time, the victim had deposited a total of Rs. 22 lakhs to various accounts as advised by the scamsters. The scamsters again wrote to the victim demanding Rs. 2 lakhs for ‘anti money laundering certificate’ and ‘anti terrorist certificate’.

Meanwhile a woman contacted the victim posing as chief remittance officer from Mumbai and asked him to deposit Rs. 10 lakh as insurance in order to claim the money. Ultimately the scamsters demanded Rs. 50 lakhs more for the money to be remitted. By that time the victim had no more money available with him. He complained to the police.

The police have not been able to make any headway in the matter as the scamsters have been careful to ensure that there is no trail.

My comments: There is no limit to human greed and gullibility. I have no sympathy for the victim and in fact some lurking admiration for the scamsters. They would have meticulously planned the operation. They would not have picked up just anybody to be their victim. They would have studied the psychological profile of the victim. But the best part is their evaluation of the victim as a person who would not confide with others what he is doing. And they made the victim to cough up lot of money. They had taken risks. Will they be caught. I doubt it. If they can pull off with a tricky operation as this, it would be a child’s play for them to ‘ manage the police.’


21. TERMS USED THESE DAYS TO DENOTE BLACK MONEY TRANSFER:

Money launderers and plain crooks have changed the terms or nomenclature to denote the amount of money involved in undertaking a job or in betting or for giving to a politician. It was ‘ peti’ and khoka’ for along time. One would have heard the terms in Hindi fillums. But these terms have lost their shine because of their overuse and easily identifiable by law officers, who now tap phones. The new terms are ‘ kitab ‘ and ‘ copy.’ Given below are the terms for the level of money involved:

1 Copy - Rs. 10,000

1 Alphonso - Rs. 1 crore

1 Kitab - Rs. 1 crore

1 Rupiya - Rs. 1 crore

1 Khoka - Rs. 1 crore

1 Peti - Rs. 1 lakh

My comments: When you go to market next time and ask the vegetable seller ‘ two alphonso’ you could run into the risk of conveying the message that you want Rs. 2 crores of black money. If you send a message to a relative or friend that you are sending a box of alphonsos or some kitab and if perchance the authorities are checking your messages, you could be in trouble. While media and general public use the term of ‘ Black money, ‘ in the parlance of business people and politicians the same is termed as ‘ No.2 account.’ In these days when you can’t make out between a crook and decent guy, it is better to have some basic knowledge of these factors.