How a Dubai-based Kerala guy inspired by Mollywood films proved smarter than an online fraud

By Team MyNation  |  First Published Oct 30, 2018, 9:39 PM IST

Chris Johnson, a fan of Mollywood superstar Mohanlal, successfully tricked a pretentious OLX customer

Dubai: This is a revenge story in true filmy style. To be more specific, the plot turned out to be a comedy-thriller. The protagonist is Chris Johnson, who hails from Kerala, but is currently based in Dubai.

Chris, who wanted to sell his camera, posted an advertisement on OLX. A fraud, pretending to be a woman named Janet, asked Chris to courier the camera to Nigeria.

Janet claimed she would pay 200 DHS extra as insurance cover for the camera. But Chris knew that no such insurance procedures existed in sales online.

Chris soon realised that the buyer was a scamster, but he decided to play along with some Mollywood tricks. Chris, who is a fan of Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, sent Janet details of his bank account, while pretending to be Mangalasheri Neelagantan, which is the name of a character that Mohanlal played in the 1993 movie Devasuram. Chris told Janet that the name of his bank was Jacobinte Swargarajyam Bank, which again is a 2016 Nivin Pauly-starrer. 

Not familiar with Malayalam movies and actors, 'Janet' found nothing suspicious. 'She' created a fake ID, sent a mail to Chris, pretending to be the insurance provider from First Bank ― again a fictitious entity.

The mail informed Chris that the money had been paid by Janet and that Chris would receive it in his Jacobinte Swargarajyam bank account as soon as he sent the tracking ID from the courier service. Chris named his courier service as Ravanaprabhu (title of a popular Mohanlal movie).

Janet tried to persuade Chris to send the camera across through a “recognised” courier service. Chris responded, stating that the other services were too expensive, and that she might have to pay 200 DHS extra in that case.  

Chris went on to send Janet pictures of Mohanlal and Mammootty, claiming that they were the owners of the courier service. 

Finally, Chris ended the deal by asking the popular question that two Malayalees often ask when they meet outside Kerala: “Naatilu evidya,” meaning, “Where’s your hometown in Kerala?”

Chris shared some screenshots of his WhatsApp conversation on Facebook, which instantly turned viral, with 6,500 shares in just five days. What a hilarious payback to that fraudster!

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