India's increasing fraud culture mirrors its stark inequality. A journalist recounts receiving a fake lottery call, leading to insights into a booming scam industry during the COVID-19 lockdown. Exposing the inner workings, she interviews scam operators like “Rana Pratap,” who leverage desperation and misinformation for profit. Amid mass unemployment, many view scamming as a viable career. The growth of scams reveals a collective disillusionment; ordinary citizens, driven by a deteriorating trust in traditional success paths, become scamming entrepreneurs, reflecting a troubling trend of deceit in society.
https://www.thedial.world/articles/news/india-scams-scamlands