Harvard Job Scam :- Strange Scam Ever

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            In our day to day life we come across many news , that covers Online scam , cyber attacks or blackmailing. We also receive many emails, Massages from unknown sources offering lottery , Cashback , gifts, coupens etc. But actually they are fishing mails, which hackers uses to Steal our data and blackmail.  But What happens when the links or mails seems like they are true and reliable. 

             Today we are going to discuss similar and Very strange Online Scam happened in india in  2021 , Which is linked with the most prestigious " Harvard university" . The scam mostly target on " Prominent Female News Journalist of  Famous News agencies ".

     The News Journalist that are targeted by this Scammers are unaware about the what happenings  actually. I'm talking about the 

" Harvard Job Scam " . The victim or targeted female journalist are :- 

1.Nidhi Rajdhan :- Journalist NDTV

2.Rohini Singh :- Freelance Contributor to 

                            " THE WIRE" journal

3.Zainab Sikander :-  Famous Columnists in                                          news journal

4. Nighat Abbas's:-.  BJP Spokesperson

                 

# What the actual pattern of Scam :- 

Incident 1st :- 

        Nidhi Rajdhan was all set to start a new job as a professor in Harvard university.  She announced this  by  her tweet . She is very excited as she will get Free from the daily work  and  there will be another opportunity waiting for her .  She told in tweet that she had shared all important information like  bank account details , personal details , medical records etc as a new employer of Harvard university.  

               But when she got a email from the associate Dean of Harvard university in january  , 

She read the following massage : 

'There is no record of, nor any knowledge of, your name or your appointment.”

The email closed: “I wish you the best for your future.”

                  Source : New York times

      Firstly ,  She got  Surprised by the mail , But after doing detail analysis of her job offer mail she realised that she had fallen into a intricate online hoax or Scam. The Culprit behind this hoax exploits the prestige of Harvard university.  

         She shared this incident with peoples , the isolated incident . But nidhi rajdhan was not the only women who was targeted by this online hoax  ,  despite of she warned the peole about the incident. Harvard university does not take any step against this though they are warned by one of Victim of hoax & it exploits the reputation of University , too.

           The people behind the hoax was relentless . They made a strong chain of connections on tweeter , Facebook , Gmail  and WhatsApp. Unlike another fraudster , they did not use personal information , not blackmail the victim remaining their identity a mystery . 

Although the scammers expressed support online for the Hindu nationalist movement in India, they also shed little light on their decision to target reporters.

         After one year of incident , there is a uncertainty of the identity of the mastermind behind the hoax. The laptop of Ms. Rajdhan were sent to University of Toronto and  University of Stanford for the Cyber security analysis .  Experts talk about the analysis that , there is a lot of effort to made this hoax but no payoff for the same . And the identity of Scammers remains hidden. 

   

Incident 2nd :-

         Rohini Singh is a outspoken journalist and the freelance contributor to the famous news journal " The Wire" that is among the most critical of the Hindu nationalist government in India. She had broken a  big stories that Powerful people in india don't like.She wrote a blockbuster artical in 2017 about the "business fortunes of the son of India’s current minister of home affairs".

                In mid August 2019  Rohini singh received a tweeter massage of a person calling him " Tauseef Ahmad" . He introduced himself as a student of Harvard university and native of Ms. Singhs hometown lucknow. He invites Ms. Singh for the high - powered media conference in Harvard university. University will pick up all her expenses.  

                  She got suspicious when Tauseef Ahmad introduced one of his colleague Alex Hirschman which was connected to her on Aug,19 from a Gmail account rather than the official account of university. When Ms. Singh analyse the telephone numbers of both the scammers , the numbers were not registered in USA , they shown the registration of UAE. They ask Ms . Singh about the personal details , and other sensitive data. After few months Ms . Singh got confirmation of scam ,  She stopped the communication.

Incident 3.:- 

                 Zainab Sikander is a upcoming political commentator . She campaign against the discrimination towards muslim by Hindu nationalist government. She also post some  critical observations against administration of prime minister Narendra Modi. 

   On 22 Aug 2019 , Ms.Sikander also received a tweeter massage from a guy named' Tauseef Ahmad' . He invites Ms . Sikander to high power media conference in harvard university. Ms. Sikander started chatting with Tauseef on WhatsApp in spite of the number of Tauseef showing UAE country code . Tauseef introduced one of his friend Alex . He ask for the personal details of Ms. Sikander. But when Ms. Sikander ask them about the official letter of invitation from Dean of Harvard university , they disconnected themselves. She remembers his voice: young, with a South Asian accent, which she believed sounded Pakistani.A search of student directory of Harvard university show no record of students with such names. 

Incident 4 : - 

   Similar to Nidhi rajdhan and zainab sikander the next target of scammers was Nighat abbas , a BJP Spokesperson. She got a email letterhead from Harvard university for invitation of conference.

Later , it is was found that the sign s and the stamp on laterhead was forge. An email from a female named " Seema Singh " received by Nighat abbbas. Who identified herself as a coder and claimed that she was based in india.It was only when the Scammers ask Ms.abbas about personal information and other details. Ms. Abbas thought about asking about the invitation directly to the co-ordinator of program of Harvard university , Bailey Payne. Co ordinator responded that ' no such invitation from the university were sent ' . Ms. Abbas realised that this is scam. She stopped all the links.

# But , WHY ..? 

        The  analyst of university of Stanford and university of Toronto said that , "there was a huge effort were made to execute this scam but there is no payoff by victims , as they had  not get any blackmailing email or Call demanding money from any scammer by victims still now."

# Forensic Analysis By Voyager Infosec , India

       The forensic expert from Voyager india jiten Jain ,   The suspicious file he uncovered on Ms. Razdan's computer contained an IP address that had once been linked to a hacking group believed to be associated with Pakistani intelligence. Mr. Jain also discovered several other suspicious websites that purported to be career pages for other Ivy League universities, but were registered in China, making him believe the scam that targeted Ms. Razdan was part of a broader operation.

      The tweeter account from  which the whole conversation takes places is also banned by tweeter india ,  but the personal information about the account holder is refused by Tweeter CEO , saying that this is out of Privacy policy and they will give this information unless the court orders to do.

#Conclusion :-. 

           This was strange scam only targeting female journalist of news agencies. The actual culprits were covered off  , their identity is still unknown . The solution on such scam is only Be awaring from such mails , links , massages.

        In our day to day life we received many massges and links offering lottery , cashback , gifts and coupons etc . They will be on fishing emails , which hackers use to stole your data and blackmail. So , only solution is Be Aware...!!

       I Hope the blog is informative for you. Dont hesitate to review and comment the blog. Your suggestions are always welcome..!!

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(Sources :- Google and Newyork Times)