That's an intense level of con. Timed with the pandemic, it could have been hard not to fall for. I hope there is a follow up on who pulled it off. Did the perpetrators know the victim, did they send more of these "letters"? The con seemed pretty specific for a certain target. A lot of work to pull off.
Also wonder if, and hope, Nidhi got her old job back. With a great story.
>Timed with the pandemic, it could have been hard not to fall for.
It didn't start there though. The offer letter supposedly came in January 2020 when things were perfectly normal in the vast majority of the world; I was traveling around Europe without a thought of pandemics at that time.
It seems a little weird that there would be a job offer after just a 90 minute phone interview. And moving halfway around the world seems a pretty big deal and one would think someone in that situation would be looking for a bit more motion on the logistics. On the other hand, we're talking Harvard Extension School and she's in India so maybe not a complete red flag especially given she had some apparent prior contact with the school. But certainly the pandemic allowed them to string things out for whatever reason.
It does seem as if there are different stories floating around though.
It seems more specific to Harvard. I wonder if the documents she was given by scammers were just believable or accurate. If they mirrored actual Harvard recruitment process then it's possible that whoever did this wokred or applied there.
Or maybe it wasn't about the money? Maybe she was targetted specifically for her previous roles and knowledge?
I wouldn't find it suspicious if some professors preferably refer people who speak on the campus over the database of spontaneous CVs, and there is a process regardless of how it initiates.
I think it is equally easy to imagine that she made it up (and pressured co-workers to lie?) to falsely claim harvard credentials with a good out as it is to imagine that a political organization wanted to discredit a journalist and get her to resign, probably expecting her to go quietly.
Since politicians are being given special access to advanced phishing, I think it is prudent to treat the story as real. How can this not raise demand for similar attacks using software from the US/Israeli/Italian/etc firms that specialize in state sponsored crime?
