The prominent TV journalist, who worked for NDTV, Nidhi Razdan claimed that she had been a victim of a “very serious & elaborate phishing attack” under the guise of a Harvard teaching job offer. She stated that last year she received communications over email which spoke about providing a job offer as an “Associate Professor of journalism” at the renowned Harvard University in the United States.

Last year, Nidhi had stated over social media that she was offered a job at Harvard University as an Associate Professor, which is not unusual, given that there is a norm of employing experts from various fields with appreciable experiences to teach under the category of Professor of Practice at the Ivy league university. On June 13, 2020 Razdan had declared that she would be quitting NDTV to take up a position at Harvard University.

Razdan disclosed on Twitter that she was made to believe that she would be joining the University in September 2020. Later on, she was told that due to Covid19 pandemic, her classes would commence from January. She also mentioned that “In June 2020 and after 21 years with NDTV, I decided to move on and join Harvard as an Associate Professor of Journalism.” She had further said, “I was making arrangement to take up my new assignment in January 2021.” Along with many lags and delays, she started noticing a number of administrative anomalies in the process being described to her. She added that the correspondence being mailed to her contained letters written on proper letterheads with the logo of Harvard University and with the signature stamps of the relevant faculties who work at Harvard even now.

The Journalist further stated that she at first ignored the “anomalies” thinking them as part of the “new normal dictated by the pandemic”. But lately, the representations being made to her were of an even more distressing nature. As a result, Nidhi reached out to senior authorities at Harvard for clarity. She stated that she shared some of the correspondence that she believed she had received from the University. It was after contacting the authorities at the University that she realized that she had become a victim of a phishing attack targeted to use her personal information and other details. Nidhi stressed over the fact that since the job offer which looked legitimate had come from a mail pretending to be a contact id from Harvard, she fell into the trap throwing away her 21 years of experience. The journalist also added that the communications had also given her the breakup schedule of her classes, which she supposedly had to take at Harvard University. She added that the fraud mail-id had also mailed her a bank transfer slip, which made her believe that it was a true offer, despite all the delay. It was only after the direct communication with the Dean of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, that she came to realize that it was all a trap, which baited her using the Covid 19 situation.

Razdan also added in a statement that she has filed a complaint with the police and has handed over relevant documents, while asking Police to take instant steps to identify, arrest, and prosecute the perpetrators of this abominable attack.

Razdan also added that she had asked the Harvard University authorities to take the matter seriously as it was using the university’s image to clickbait people into the phishing attack. She further added that her lawyer, after reading all the mail-communications told her that the elaborate phishing attack was to use her personal information and to access her money.

Reactions over the fake job offer fiasco

Pankaj Pachauri, another prominent TV anchor, and journalist expressed shock over the revelation and stated over his tweeter feed that the perpetrators of the phishing scam must be brought to justice for the sake of Nidhi and Harvard.

While a large majority is sympathizing with Razdan on the unfortunate turn of events, a section of social media users says that this incident raises more questions than it answers. “Did she fly to the US? If so, what visa did she seek/get to teach at Harvard? You cannot go on a teaching assignment on a tourist visa. If she got a visa, did the phishing people fool the U.S. Embassy too? A mystery,” said Kartikeya Tanna on Twitter.

“Seriously, nothing is adding up. There are tonnes of documentation during the US Visa application process. No Associate Professor is recruited without a few rounds of personal interviews. There are several rounds of verification processes involved too. How come it is a phishing attack?” asked Soumyadipta.

However, there has been no response from Harvard University on the matter and Nidhi Razdan has refused to offer any further comments on the issue on social media.