Alertness is only weapon against ploys of conmen

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The police are on the lookout for a cabbie who duped a Dahisar resident by distracting him with a bright blue light when he was paying his fare. The cabbie had told the man that he had given him three Rs 100 notes instead of three Rs 500 ones. After arguing in vain, the man eventually paid up. However, he realised later he had been fleeced as he only had Rs 500 notes in his wallet and that the bright light was a prop in the con. According to a report in this paper, a complaint of a similar nature had been made with the police earlier.

While this is a singular case, it is also an indicator of a powerful and deceptively innocuous tool used to dupe people. Be wary of the different methods used by conmen to dupe you in a split second. There is the classic modus operandi of continuously asking questions while customers are paying for something so that they forget how much they have coughed up as they are preoccupied. People with criminal intentions also stop and ask pedestrians questions on the road, maybe directions, while an accomplice takes their bag or mobile phone and scoots.

Motorists have often reported about tricksters distracting them by tapping on a closed window while their accomplices reach in from the other side and make off valuables or money. This is why signs and the police tell us to keep our guard up in crime-ridden areas. Being vigilant is the exact opposite of being distracted.

When you are alert, you are in complete control and you have a sense of your surroundings, communication and actions, making it harder for a person to con you. It is the only safeguard against insidious ploys. If your intuition says something is not quite right, go by it.