KARACHI:
With the ever-increasing inflation and the country suffering from a very difficult financial situation, impact on the common people isn’t an alien concept. Every now and then, we hear news of people committing suicide due to lack of financial resources. At the time when earning each penny is getting harder, just imagine if you lose that hard-earned money to a scam. What needs to be understood is how anyone gets away with such a fraud, and what the options are for people who lose their money.
In a country where cons and corruption of political figures are very common, we also see internet-based scams. Many people are still unaware that sharing any information online could result in them losing their money from their bank accounts. A case that has recently shocked people is that of a woman who in the name of “committee” pulled off a 420-million-rupee scam. Her name is Sidra Humaid. She runs two online businesses, one of food and another of crochet.
In 2013, Humaid started involving people in a committee – a regular gathering of women and men in which each member contributes money to a central pool, and lots are drawn to decide which member will get the entire sum – and many of her friends, friends of friends, neighbours, and later online friends started responding to her proposal to save money. Initially, the amount was as low as fifty rupees a month; the total amount to be received was 5,000 in some setups. Her idea became a hit, and she started a…
