So, on 28-02-2023, we were all just chilling in our room, having one of those casual conversations girls tend to have when we’re free. We were talking about a bunch of random things, laughing, and sharing different stories, when one of my roommates suddenly mentioned something that left us all in complete shock. She told us about her cousin and his horrible experience with credit card fraud.
It all started when he was trying to make an online payment. He was doing everything right, or so he thought. But then, something strange happened. His little nephew, who had been busy watching YouTube videos on his phone, suddenly grabbed his mobile. The kid was completely absorbed in his videos, so he didn’t even realize what he was doing. He just casually asked, “Uncle, can you tell me the OTP number from your phone?” Since the cousin was distracted, he didn’t think much of it and just read the OTP number out loud, not even realizing that something could go wrong.
The kid, not understanding the seriousness of what he had just done, repeated the OTP number as requested. The cousin didn’t think to double-check what was going on, so he went along with it. A moment of carelessness.
Later on, when he went to check his bank account, he was in for a huge shock. To his disbelief, he saw that 2,000 AED had been deducted from his account. He immediately started panicking because he hadn’t made any transactions. After looking into it further, he realized that the OTP he had given wasn’t used for his own online payment at all—it was used for someone else’s transaction. That’s when the reality hit him: his own relative, his nephew, had been the one who unknowingly helped someone else access his account by giving out the OTP.
The whole thing was so shocking because it all happened so quickly and unexpectedly. What made it worse was how easy it was for the fraudster to get the information they needed. It was just a moment of distraction, a small conversation, and a few seconds of carelessness, but it led to a significant amount of money being taken out of his account.
We were all left speechless, especially because it was a lesson none of us had expected to learn that day. It made us all realize how important it is to be cautious about our financial information, even in the smallest of interactions. That one moment of vulnerability cost him a lot, and we all made a mental note to never share any sensitive information like that, even if it’s just a small request or a moment of distraction. It also taught us how scammers can use simple tricks to gain access to our accounts, and we promised ourselves we’d always be more careful with things like OTPs, passwords, and personal details.
It’s funny how something so small—like a kid asking for an OTP—can turn into something so big, but that’s the reality of how easily fraud can happen. It was a wake-up call for all of us, and we all agreed to be way more vigilant when it comes to our personal and financial information from that moment on.
