Fraud Alert

 

Dear Friends hope you have completed both doses of vaccination if not please complete the same in this year itself so as we can stay COVID free in 2022

My apologies for taking a little longer to publish a new blog, due to some commitment could not manage for some time but yes will bounce back with something big shortly. Now the question is what to offer today? Till now I have been spreading awareness about wildlife but today thought to spread awareness about online fraud which I recently experienced so that my readers don't fall into the trap of such fraud attempts

Recently I came across a very scary incident and hence thought to publish it on a public platform to save others from such incident, let me directly get into the details, please read each line so as you understand the modus operandi and save yourself from a possible attempt in future 

 Exchange Online

Let me begin with what I have gone through and how I manage to escape from it then I will put my thoughts on other aspects of this topic

So let me start the story – Last Sunday I decided to sell old furniture, initially, I had contacted a secondhand dealer near my house, his offer was not lucrative so I thought to try online portal to get better price hence I opted for one of the famous portals for online buying and selling

The process to activate an account and upload free advertisement is very easy (Even fraudsters can get in easily with dummy details); with either email or mobile, you can quickly login into it

Upon login it allowed me to upload one free advertisement so I uploaded pictures and quoted Rs. Five thousand for the dining table. 

Within a minute started getting calls for an inquiry, it looked a little strange to me but thought dealers remain active and may approach early than individuals. This was my first experience of offering online and had no idea of such an ill motive of someone

 

The person called me on WhatsApp, introduced himself as Amit Kumar (9394160716), and said he is a resident of Bhiwandi and is a dealer of second-hand furniture and he is interested in my offer

He also asked if I have more furniture to offer, I shared pictures of other furniture as well and I asked for a total quote of Nineteen Thousand cash. He agreed immediately without any single rupee bargain, this created some bit of doubt in my mind hence I ask him only for cash

The fraudster insisted on half online transfer and balance as cash when he will arrange pickup, I agreed to 50% online transfer and balance later. He said he will transfer on PAYTM/GPAY etc and I said I am ok with PAYTM

Now see the modus operandi – He thought he got a fish in the net

He said to continue on WhatsApp and scan the QR code sent by him, the moment I scanned the App showed the “PAY” button. This I noticed and denied to act further. I said why it shows pay?. It should directly transfer money and should not ask anything. Mr. fraudster said he is transferring using a machine at his end and hence it requires action from my end, he added that money from his end is already processed and will be credited to my account only if I submit the same from my app

I told him just scrap the deal this is not correct, to gain my trust he said let me transfer Rs.2 after that I should follow the same process to get the credit of ten thousand

This time I got a QR code of Rs. 2, I scanned that and again noticed that App showed the “PAY” button, I did not click any button still Rs. 2 got credited to my wallet. this was enough to gain trust, now he started insisting and pushing me to follow this process for initiating ten thousand 

He thought I am trapped, now he asked me to scan a QR code of ten thousand, he said Sir now you know the procedure, please go ahead for 10k, on scanning the app lead to the “PAY” button, now I was very sure that something is surely wrong, I refused to enter anything; I told it is fraud because for receiving the money no action required then why the app is diverting me to PAY? I told him that I don't want to go ahead and let's cancel the same

When I refused, he started shouting that 10k is debited from his account hence I have to complete the transaction and proceed further. He threatened me with a police complaint and said give me 10k back. He immediately removed QR codes from WhatsApp when I offered him to approach the police station together. I was vigilant on the usage of my wallet hence could manage to escape else for sure I could have made a loss of 10k

Let me ask you a question, why Rs. 2 was credited to the wallet but not 10k? For both amounts process was absolutely the same. The point to be noted here is that he actually transferred Rs. 2 directly from another mobile number which was without any QR code, I realized this when I checked the details of credit in my wallet. Such as a smart way to gain the trust and trap immediately

In just a matter of 5 minutes, 10k would have gone, we need to be extra cautious when we use digital platforms for any dealing. Especially when such platforms are not strong in terms of verification and don’t provide any service, it is just an open platform where anyone can easily enter and take advantage of the lack of security

The intention is not to blame any specific platform or blame the digital world, just wanted to share details of incidents that happened and to spread awareness. The digital platform has its own advantage but for that, we have to be vigilant. Flexibility comes with the risk of fraud hence be extra careful when you enter into any such dealings

In the next section let me help you with points we need to take care of while dealing on digital platform 

Chain se Sona hai toh Jaag Jao

1. Check how strong these digital platforms are. For example, by just providing an email id allowing us to use the platform freely, the risk is high

2. If portals are free with basic or no verification, the risk is high

3. If a person is approaching immediately and accepting everything at one go, the risk is high 

4. Don’t scan QR code

5. Don’t entre or provide CVV or password, for receiving money these details are not required, this is for sure fraud

6. Fraudsters most of the time use WhatsApp calling and use free WIFI available at places like stations so ignore if you receive calls from WhatsApp

7. Ask for providing complete details from the dealer, if they are not providing you name, address or registration number, etc, it is fraud for sure

8.    Don’t share bank details, credit/Debit card details, if it is asked, it is a fraud

9. Spread awareness if you notice any such incident

In the end, let me summarize, digital platforms have their own limitation, verification may depend on the business model and many other aspects. We need to be vigilant and cautious while dealing with the online world. If you come across any kind of fraud then please spread awareness so as we can save others from the fraudsters   
 
Request you share feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

9

Pride of Parinche

 

Dear readers thank you so much for showering your love towards the Bhigwan trip report. Your overwhelming response and appreciation of pictures are truly helping me to improve the quality.

Now it is time to fulfill the promise of providing a magical part with this blog, without taking more time let me disclose the magic. Part 2 of the trip is a visit to Parinche for meeting one of the magical birds, so let me enlighten you with this unknown place step by step in the next section. 

Let the story begins

To begin with, let me tell you how this place came into the picture and after that I will introduce you to the specialty of this place.

So let me start, while we were planning for Bhigwan, Deepa updated me about this place and showed me some wonderful pictures of other friends, the details were so attractive that we all 3 decided to visit this place but now the question was whether to plan a special trip or to tag this with Bhigwan. 

A couple of times Bhigwan got postponed adding to the question mark on this place as well, but with the blessing of all, we finalized the date of the trip and added this place as well. Now let me tell you why this dependency? The reason is the distance between both these places is around 100KM and hence to avoid multiple visits it is wise to club both together. This is how we planned that we will complete both places in one go. I know you have never heard about this place and you are eager to know so let me talk about this place as well.

Parinche is a village in Purandar Taluka in Pune, the small place suddenly came into the limelight because someone loves Bajari (Pearl Millet Fields) which is easily available at this place, and hence now it has become famous. Now the question is who “Someone” is. Any minister, any celebrity, or any sports person…… the answer is “None of the above”. 

I know you are eager to know about “Someone” who is not amongst big shots but still made this small place a big one. Patience my friends, remember the fruits of patience are sweet right 😝, so let me not test your patience and disclose this mystery in the next section.

Let the magic play

Before I disclose the details, I want you to sing this song along with me, Aashiq hoon main, Kaatil Shatir bhi hoon, Sabke Dillon mein Shaamil bhi hoon, Badshah main Badshah………….yes the Badshah is none other than “Vernal Hanging Parrot” such a beautiful creature, its charm has made the place famous.

In the love of Bajri this bird visit this place from July to October, the behavior, the style, the pattern, etc makes this bird truly charming and hence bird lovers/photographers are travelling any distance just to feel the beauty of it. Let me update you more one by one, I am sure once you go through the details you will agree that this is a magical bird.

They are unique amongst birds for their ability to sleep upside down, thus, their common name, hanging parrots; the bird is also known as Indian Hanging-Parrot, Indian Lorikeet

The overall plumage of the vernal hanging parrot is green. The underparts are yellowish-green. The male has a pale blue patch on the throat. In females, the throat patch is green. The rump and upper tail coverts are red in male

The tail of this parrot species is short. The bill is red in the male. In females and immature birds, the plumage and bill are duller

The diet of these vernal hanging parrot species is mostly Bajri or soft fruits. Wild fruits, berries, nectar, seeds, buds, and flowers are their primary food. They have been observed to frequent fig trees for figs and plantain tree flowers for nectar

The unknown fact is that most of the time parakeets are mistaken as Parrots, let me tell you that Vernal Hanging is the only parrot available in India rest of the others are parakeets

Now after knowing the facts let me close the blog by updating you on a little snapshot of how we spent time with vernal and then you can visit the DSLR section to feel it as a virtual visit

Date with Vernal

Now at the end let me update you on the details of our date with Vernal. The important thing is time when you plan either with your BF/GF or with birds 😜 you need to ensure that you reach on time to get best out of it, we were told by Gaurav to visit around 6 am or around 3 pm to enjoy the time with this lovely bird

At Bhigwan we had concluded the activity around 10 am and hence we could manage to leave by 11 from there. It took two hrs so we reached around 1pm. We started evaluating the nearby area where we got Bunting, Red Adavat, Baya, etc but our eyes were searching the Vernal

Gaurav increased our hope when he said that some time bird comes at around 1.30 pm, now it was 2+ but no glimpse, to irritate us rain started coming little hard, now you can’t use camera unless you have rain covers. Somehow, with hope and pm prayer, we were passing the time sitting in a hide or in a car

After a long wait suddenly at around 2.45 pm the vernal arrived and arrived in style, at a time there were more than 8, they were enjoying Bajri and we were enjoying their activity. This was the first time I saw vernal and was mesmerized by the beauty of this bird. It was like bumper luck for us, the success of Bhigwan added with the superb sighting of vernal what more you can demand. After such a lovely date we started our return journey which was finally ended by having wonderful lunch near Saswad.

I hope you liked magical vernal, keep blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

State Bird of Mizoram

Mrs. Hume's pheasant – 

The name commemorates Mary Ann Grindall Hume, wife of the British naturalist in India Allan Octavian Hume. It is the state bird of Mizoram and Manipur

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

Bhigwan the Big1- Trip report

 

Dear Friends hope you are enjoying the festival season, my best wishes to all of you for the upcoming festivals. While doing the celebration please ensure we continue to take precautions and keeping a distance from COVID.

Patience is Bitter but Its Fruit Is Sweet, this is the one-line story of this wonderful trip which came after a long break. The name of the sweet fruit is Bhigwan Trip, after a lot of discussion, cancellation, re-planning, re-scheduling somehow we made it.

Nature always offers unique aspects even though you visit the same place again, this is my second visit to the grassland, and believe me, the experience was totally different. With a lot of excitement let me update you on the success of this trip, come join me to experience one of the best parts of our state. 

The story begins

Like Sanjay of Mahabharata let me narrate every bit of it starting from planning. Due to deadly second wave travel again got impacted, all restriction, lock-down came in place again. After June/July things started coming back to normalization but forest visits were still on hold. Somewhere in July after my vaccination, we planned Chiplun Trip but due to a deadly flood, we had to cancel that. The situation was like bad luck behind all of us like never before, if a wave is in control then a flood will come in, there was no sense of relief, this was adding to the frustration. 

By the time it normalized the season ended in Chiplun, with very limited options left now; before I approach friends, I realized most of them were enjoying places like Goa, Ladakh, etc. August was also gone and frustration continued. In September, Deepa/Suma approached me for Bhigwan but again due to some reason it was not finalized though hope was still there. 

Somehow, the schedule matched for all of us and we started off to Bhigwan, the base plan was restricted to Bhigwan but the sweet reward of patience came with some magic (The magic is another part of the trip, I will explain the same in next blog, till the time you keep thinking about magic). 

Till now I narrated the story of the conversion of hope to reality, for the other side of the story let us reach the grassland and meet the lovely creatures after that you can visit the DSLR section to connect the story with the pictures. 

Go Green Grassland

Bhigwan offers grassland as well as wetland birds, the current season is for grassland birds, which includes migratory birds because of which we decided to go for grassland. The place is rich with god-gifted huge grasslands which attract migratory birds as well as animals like Fox, Wolf, Jackals, and Jungle Cat.

Due to the rainy season, it was lush green not only attracting this wildlife species but also provides equal opportunity to photographers and nature lovers with awesome greenery, which is now next to impossible in the city, I know you are eager to know more about what all we saw, let me explain the same one by one. 

Rock star Montagu

The sighting started with the deadly raptor “Montagu's Harrier,” at a time we saw around six. It is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. Its common name commemorates the British naturalist George Montagu.

Chalak Lomdi

This was the luckiest sighting ever, Lomdi (Fox) is known as the most clever animal and we always refer to the same as “Chalak /Chalbaz”. The fox is a somewhat nocturnal animal that prefers to move out in the dark also by nature it is a very shy animal and hence the sighting becomes extremely difficult and rare. You can find a tiger but finding a fox is not that easy hence this is called “Sweet Reward” in the true sense.

Jacobin cuckoo

Yet another super sighting in name of the cuckoo, most of us know the story of Chatak which is known as a bird with a beak on its head that waits for rains to quench its thirst. Jacobin Cuckoo is that Chatak bird, it is known as pied cuckoo or the pied crested cuckoo as well. It is partially migratory and in India, it has been considered a harbinger of the monsoon rains due to the timing of its arrival. 

And many more

The other attractions are – Shrike, Collared Dove, Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse, Rufous-tailed Lark, Black-shouldered kite, Bonelli's eagle, Rock Bush Quail, Little grebe, Mottled wood owl, Yellow-eyed babbler, Baya Weaver, Purple Heron, painted sandgrouse, Courser, Red Munia, etc….

Food Forever 

This part covered the story of sightings but the trip is incomplete without testy food, let me end the blog with an update on stay and food. 

All through the journey, we had very good food starting from the food court and restaurant at Saswad while coming back. 

We enjoyed homemade and local food a lot, Sandeep Nagre’s family made awesome food, which includes Pitlay, Thecha, Bakhari, Shev Bhaji, and Fish for Non-veggies. The taste was unmatched trust me you will not get such yummy local food at Hotel. Apart from this, we also enjoyed Misal Pav and Vada Usal at local Tapri at breakfast time.  

The success of the trip can be measured with not only sighting, the stay and food also play an important role. The homestay was nice with basic amenities with clean rooms.  

We return from Bhigwan on a memorable note; hope to visit again for things that we missed during this trip. Once again I am repeating, Magic is yet to come, keep waiting for the next part.

I hope you liked this blog, keep blessing me and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Vote of Thanks

Agnipankh Flamingo Point – Sandeep Nagre (Owner) and family, thanks for making the trip memorable

Driver cum Guide  - Datta Bhau, thanks for the wonderful sighting 

Co-Travelers  - Deepa, and Suma thanks for this wonderful trip

Driver – Pathakji, thanks for driving safe throughout the journey  

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section

Montagu's Harrier (Male)

FOX

Jacobin Cuckoo

Mottled Wood Owl

Purple Heron

Bonelli's Eagle

Black-shouldered kite

Chestnut-bellied sandgrouse

Painted sandgrouse

Courser

Shrike

Yellow-eyed babbler

Rock Bush Quail

Rufous-tailed Lark

Baya weaver

Collared dove

Montagu's harrier (Male)

Montagu's harrier (Female)

Maharashtrian Thali

Misal Pav

Vada Usal