Nidhi Razdan was an Executive Edtor with NDTV. She recently announced on Twitter that she was quitting her job with NDTV to join Harvard University as an Associate Professor of journalism. For Nidhi it was a dream come true but her dream was shattered when she got to know that the entire process to hire her and her appointment was part of a phishing attack to access her bank account, personal data, medical records, passport and her computer and phone as well.
Nidhi was invited to speak at an event organised by Harvard Kennedy School in early 2020 and one of the apparent organisers contacted her informing her that there was a vacancy for a teaching position. She submitted her CV and a few weeks later was interviewed online for 90 minutes. She found it to be thoroughly legitimate as all the questions posed to her were professional. In January 2020, she received an email from an alleged Harvard Human Resources person with an offer letter and agreement. They also sought her personal details for procuring a work visa. Nidhi did not suspect anything as the entire sequence of events seemed genuine. She quit NDTV in June 2020 and was informed that classes were put off until January 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic. Only at this stage, she sent an email to the head of HR at Harvard and was told that there was no such appointment and the people claiming to be HR staff do not even exist. She was totally shocked and dismayed to hear this and immediately filed a police complaint. She is angry and disappointed but relieved that she found out what was going on before any serious damage was done.
