Online ‘buddies’ can turn out to be frauds
You can never predict how your online friend will turn out to be, more so when you meet each other for the first time after weeks of getting to know each other. At least he won’t be a thief as Rishi, a student, found out when he met his online friend. Rishi and Purnima met for coffee and on the pretext of calling her father Purnima asked for Rishi’s cellphone and tried to run away with it. Sadly, this is not the only case in isolation, as many youngsters have such strange and funny experiences to share.
What started out as a great way to connect with long lost friends, today has another grim side to it. Agrees Siddhartha Sen, communication executive, “That’s why I dislike such sites, it may be good for networking and meeting old pals, but it also encourages voyerism.”
Amaan Khan, 24, (name changed) entrepreneur is still in shock. “I can’t believe, how anybody can go to this extent to make friends by posting fake details. This girl approached me on Facebook (FB) a few months ago and we started talking on the phone. But when I met her imagine, my state, I saw a 50-year-old woman waiting for me. Everything was a big sham. She was unperturbed and started flirting. I lost it when she asked me for a kiss. I am so angry and got totally disgusted.”
Interesting, this is nothing new, earlier we had phone friends who would turn out to be damp squibs, and now it’s the Internet. Not just personal friends, but even professionals face the same problem. Shiv Kalra, corporate filmmaker who scouts models and wannabe actors online says, “It’s rather strange, as when we look at their portfolios and talk to them over the phone it’s great. But the final meeting turns out to be yikes! It is such a waste of time sometimes as they cheat us into believing something and turn out to be totally different.”
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