Stay alert, sceptical to keep conmen at bay

Representational images. Pic/iStock

The cyber cell of the Mumbai police (North region) has arrested a 29-year-old who, along with three others, was duping people in Bollywood on the pretext of getting them deals with OTT platforms.

The cyber police also arrested a person on the complaint of a film producer who was duped to the tune of Rs48 lakh between December 2020 and June 2022. He was looking forward to a deal with OTT platforms for his two films.

An elaborate scheme with so-called "contacts" had been hatched and the producer was getting caught in the web. Fake letters, suggestions to cast certain actors and not others… the evil ploy was elaborately spun, so that the target kept parting with substantial sums of cash.

Here, it is apparent that conmen tailor their modus operandi to keep pace with the times. The burgeoning popularity of the OTT platform means that the fakes will now use this to inveigle people into shelling out cash on the pretext of seeing that their films land on these platforms.

Check and re-check every claim. Eliminate the middlemen as much as possible, but this may not be possible every time, as the entire Bollywood ecosystem works in a certain way. Watch out for red flags and constant demands for money despite nothing substantial having fructified.

It is also important that one checks names being bandied about or actually finds a number through the Internet of the actual officials of the platform and checks with them whether they know this ‘middle' person or have issued letters or have any knowledge about any films for the platform.

Stay alert, sceptical and not paranoid but simply particular. This may prevent you from getting snared.