A story that needs to be told.

It was a cold January morning.I was sleeping snuggled under the soft,warm quilt,in my apartment,when a loud knock woke me up.I abhor being woken up so rudely from sleep,especially when it's a Sunday.

"Ke........????"

-"Shantanu.......ami Jethu...."

Jethu..???......ke jethu...???.

I bet i still was in deep sleep to have responded like that to my beloved Jethu. A 60 something, old,retired,government employee and a co-tenant in the flat where i stayed with my friends in North Kolkata.Jethu stays with Jethimuni and their 35 year old son Joy,who works at a watch repair shop during the day and is a priest at a local temple during the evening.Joy da was the 21st century Shravan Kumar.He lived for his parents,did all the household chores and was the sole bread-winner of the family.I loved Jethimuni very much.She often made my favourite Payesh for me and kept on serving me numerous times saying - We shouldn't serve once....we shouldn't serve thrice...filling my bowl all over again.

One day while having lunch at their place I'd casually asked Jethimuni as to when they were planning to get Joy da married...to which Jethimuni had replied with tearful eyes and a catch in her throat - "I wish we were that lucky.He cannot get married".It was really sad to hear that and i preferred not to ask more.It was weeks later i knew why.

Knock Knock

-"Shantanu dorja ta kholo ami jethu..."

"Hmmmm uffff mmm Ohhh haan jethu.....darao mmmmmm khulchi....." I woke up with a tired body leaving my soul behind under the quilt.Eyes totally closed i opened the door.

"Haan Jethu bolo - what happened?"

-"I have something very important to tell you.Are you free by the way?I need your time.When do you leave for office."

"Jethu,today is Sunday.No office.No work.Only REST".I stressed on the last word shamelessly to show my discomfort.

-"Ohhhh i'm so sorry,i woke you up."

"Arey Jethu....tumio na...." i said putting up a lazy grin,opening one eye,rubbing the other.

"You don't have to be so formal Jethu,gimme me some time,i need to freshen up.gimme 20 mins,i'll give you a shout."

-"Aaaa Ok beta thank you....you go ahead....how stupid of me....i should have realized"

I went back straight to my soul lying under the quilt.

An hour later,i woke up,got fresh and called Jethu.

"Come Jethu,what is the matter,have a seat".I said hiding the pack of cigarettes from his view.

Jethu held a big thick diary in his hands.Taking a deep breath he reclined to the chair.

-"Shantanu,I need your help.It is something very important,and i wanted your advice."

"Hmm Oooookkkkkk Jethu,go ahead"

-"I start by taking God's name as he has always been there whenever we needed him" saying which he did a namaskar to the picture of Kali Maa in my room.

I watched in silence.

-"Shantanu i have won 750,000 GBP.Great Britain Pounds".

I still watched him in silence.

-"Shantanu,Can you believe God's grace? I have won 750,000 Great Britain Pounds.That's a whopping 5 crores.God has listened to our prayers.".Jethu now took out his cell phone from his pocket.With his hands trembling,he handed me his cell phone.

-"Last month,Joy gifted me this cell phone from Big Bazaar.It cost him 2,700 rupees.It was our anniversary.On the 26th of Jan,I received this message on my cell."Jethu with the the playful innocence of a child,and sanguine eagerness,showed me the message.

"YAHOO / MSN LOTTERY INCORPORATION

Baley House, Har ,Road Sutton,

Greater London SM1 4te

United Kingdom.

Dear Lucky Winner,

This is to inform you that your mobile number have won a prize

money of seven hundred fifty thousand Great Britain Pound Sterling's

(750,000) for the month of DEC. 2009 end of the year promotion which is

organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE.Head on DEC. 2009.

This was a Mobile draw promo which was held in United Kingdom.

These are your identification numbers:

Batch number.....................YM 09102XN

Reff number........................YM35447XN

Winning number...................YM09788

How ever you will have to fill and submit this

form to the claims officer for verification & direction on how you can

claim your winning fund.

Fill the Details Below

1. Full name..............

2. Contact Address........

3. Age....................

4. Mobile Number..........

5. Marital Status.........

6. Sex.....................

7. Occupation.............

8. Company................

9.State:..................

10.Country......... .......

11.Nationality.............

14. Your Reference and Batch number at the

top of this mail:

You are advice to keep your information's secretly so that some one else will not claim your winning prize.

Claims officer.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr.owen chris

phone:+447010995620

Land line:+447010033093

Fax:00447010027387

http://yahoomsncorp.weebly.com "

-"See my diary,I have written down the entire message here.Last night, Joy called up the number,they picked up but no one spoke.The line was disturbed.I guess international call na,that's why,may be some problem.He held the line for 30 mins and then hung up."

I watched him again in silence for the third time.Tears just on the verge of coming out of my eyes.

-"I have kept this secret,only to my family,but last night Jethimuni said -Why don't you ask Shantanu,he's a Software Engineer,may be he can help us.So here I am today in front of you.Can you help me with this thing?"

This time I broke my silence and gave Jethu a big smile and patted his back.I walked to my desk and powered my lappy,connected the net and opened my mailbox.I showed my mailbox to Jethu.There were hundreds of mails like these.Each one guaranteed fortunes to me.We get these spam mails practically every day at office,some forwarded chain mails making us aware,not to fall into such traps and not disclose essential personal information.

Somehow i did not have the courage to look into his eyes.

"This is a fraud Jethu.I'm extremely sorry to say but this is a hoax." I immediately googled out the company name and showed it to Jethu.

"See Jethu.No such company exists.There are consumer complaints forums all over the web." I showed him the next mail i'd recieved from them.

"ARRIVAL OF SPECIAL DELIVERY DIPLOMAT WITH YOUR CONSIGNMENT TO INDIA

DEAR, SHANTANU BANERJEE,

Having considered all possible measures to convey your cash prize, we resolve to use a special delivery courier company under Diplomatic Umbrella. We have made all necessary arrangement to convey your winning prize direct to your doorstep. Your name, phone number and address has been Received.

Therefore, you will only be required to pay for the Clearing charges which is 35,000INR into the account which will be send to you by the diplomat for the clearing of your consignment from the custom duties in India and any local V.A.T that may arise in INDIA before he proceed to your house.

The diplomat will personally present to you all the relevant documents to guide you against any India government queries. You are advice to make the required 35,000 INR available to the diplomat in India immediately he instructs you to do so, before you receive your prize of (£750,000 pounds..) From the YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC & WINDOWS LIVE to enable him clear your prize from the custom. Please you must keep secret of your winning until it arrives your doorstep for security reasons.

The delivery of your prize is currently on the way as it is passing through the British Security Screening. We realize recently that such procedures have been adopted on your consignment leaving UK for Asia.

Due to the urgency needed in this delivery we are informing you that MR PHILIP DOUGLAS, Special Chief Diplomat will be leaving for INDIA to make delivery of y our cash award prize through British Airways.DEPARTURE TIME DEC.30. 10:50PM, ARRIVAL TIME DEC.31. 9AM.

Please ensure that you co-operate with him and follow his instructions and directives to avoid any delay in handing over your cash award prize to you as he has little time to spend in INDIA. please make available to him the clearing charges immediately he call and provide you with the account details of the Custom Duties for you to deposit the clearance charges of 35,000 INR for the clearance of your consignment.

HE WILL CALL YOU IMMEDIATELY HE ARRIVES INDIA AND WILL INSTRUCT YOU on how to pay the clearance charges of £420 pounds equivalent to 35,000 INR available to enable him clear your consignment from the custom and proceed to your address to make 100% safe delivery to you AFTER your payment is been confirmed and receipted by the INDIA CUSTOMS.

your parcel containing your winning prize and a hard copy of your winning certificate is insured by hard cover insurance company,clearance charges cannot be deducted from it.

You are to keep us updated with your readiness in receiving the special diplomat along with your Award Cash Prize.

Upon your Agreement to this mail above,please send us email as to know if our Diplomat will depart to India or not.

We await your reply to this mail.

Claims officer.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr.owen chris

Land line:+447010033093

Direct Line: 00447010995620

Fax:00447010027387

http://yahoomsncorp.weebly.com "

"See Jethu,here they want your money.As soon as you transfer the initial amount to their account,they disappear."Jethu listened to me in such disbelief as if i was playing some prank on him.

-"But Shantanu,you see the message,it says your number was chosen from among the millions of Yahoo customers across the globe.I think you are mistaken" Jethu said with a smirk.

"Do you have a Yahoo Account ?" I said firmly.

"Did you ever participate in any lucky draw,or an online contest,or a mobile promotion contest sponsored by Yahoo/MSN?"

"How on earth can you win something,when you HAVE NOT PARTICIPATED ..!!!" my tone grew as i finished my sentence.

"Look Jethu",i said softly looking at the pain in his eyes.

"I get these e-mails and messages every day.My room-mates get them every day.We are warned at office not to give away bank information or credit card details over the phone or net."

"I will prove it to you"

"What is the website address of this company?"

-"Aaa Http... duto dot...." Jethu's voice cracked.

"Lemme see .... its http://yahoomsncorp.weebly.com" saying this I keyed in the address on my browser.

"See Jethu,this is their website....pretty impressive haan....!!!...Now see the fun...now I will delete the "yahoomsncorp" from the address...and see what comes up." I said trying to make it more dramatic.

Jethu was shocked to see what came up before his eyes.

http://www.weebly.com - Create a free website.Fast.free.Easy.Now

-"See Jethu,this is a free website making site.These people are frauds.They make fake sites,call up random people,show them dreams,and run away with their hard earned money."I even showed Jethu the phone number to which Google said - "No such number exists.The charges from the call are transferred to an account.Be aware of such hoax callers".

Jethu now believed what i said.

-"Ohhh tahole eta fraud....?? ".His face showed he was broken.

"Yes Jethu,this is a big fraud.Thousands of innocent people are being cheated like this every day.Why would a reputed company like Yahoo throw away money to people? I really feel sorry for you and Jethimuni,but you need to be aware and alert against such frauds.You need to know the truth."

He now looked at the picture of Kali Maa and smiled as if to thank her.

"God loves you and that's why he sent you to me,so that you're not cheated into this."

-"Yes beta,you're right.Thank you !"

I smiled.

As Jethu left,my heart went out to him.I felt so bad.He was so excited and couldn't wait to tell me.But i felt content with the fact that i had saved him from a big scam.I felt like stopping him and giving him a warm hug,but something stopped me.There are so many innocent old people who are cheated and fooled every single day, somewhere or the other.Many are not so lucky enough to have someone make them aware against such frauds.That morning,i decided that this story needs to be told.People need to be aware.We need to spread the message.

I stood there looking at the diary he had left on my bed.The diary was opened to the page which he had showed me.I picked up the diary and read the message,he had, so carefully written.

I smiled.

I turned the page.

The page had something written.

My heart sank.

750,000

X 68

--------------

5,10,00,000

- "Meri Bheegi Bheegi si palkon pe reh gaye....jaise mere sapne ne bikhar ke..."