We've heard the tales about simple scams
About millions to be routed through banks with minimal effort.
But scamming has evolved
And here's one that shows you how deeply scammers think through their craft.
There's a fair amount of technical detail involved.
And I'm simplifying it as I understand - you're welcome to read the blog post link below to enjoy it at a programming level. Because turning the tables on scammers is always fun to read.
So, a guy is moving house and puts up his bed for sale on the Danish version of Craigslist. In the first few days, he gets hardly any responses.
Then, a WhatsApp message arrives. An offer to buy the bed and a link to Post Nord (the Danish equivalent of India Post) to receive the payment.
He is told they will pick up the bed and ship it as well - which makes things very convenient.
But when he is about to click on the link, he finds it's a decoy - a perfect copy of the site.
Now that he's understood the game, he adds a sneaky script to the form details - and scrambles the scammer's database by generating thousands of false combinations, wrecking his carefully built scam and making the database practically unusable.
The scammer may not have bargained for a tech guy to disrupt his scheme.
All those hours of careful plotting down the drain - and all because the techie detected the false notes.
In today's world, you can't afford to be careless. You have been warned.
Caution - plane crossing
We've seen traffic held up for trains to pass.
But there's an airport where the runway is right across one of the arterial roads.
Sounds impossible but it exists.
Gibraltar is too small to have enough space for a luxurious airport.
So, every time a plane comes in to take off or land, the roads have to be cordoned off.
Thankfully, there are only about 30 flights a week and mostly from Britain.
So, it's manageable at the moment.
This is a major constraint - and the airport obviously has no room to expand beyond a point.
However, this is no chicken and egg story.
It was constructed in the late 1930s as an emergency airport for Britain's Royal Navy during the second World war.
And that replaced the existing race course!
So, there was a shortage of space even back then and priorities had to be decided.
And the city grew around it.
Are film courses worth the money?
They are among the most expensive.
And teach students all aspects of the craft.
Unfortunately, the costs of doing the courses can be huge, especially from private colleges.
Columbia's graduate program costs nearly $200,000 - that's probably the budget of several small Indian short films!
This is an eternal debate. Can film making be taught or is apprenticeship a better option?
In India, successful directors attract hordes of 'assistants'
They'll flash by in the end credits of the film but life can be really hard.
Doing everything from hard labour on the sets to putting up with the whims and fancies of stars.
But over time, they build a network with the crew across all disciplines and get to build relationships in the industry.
It's not a fixed course schedule - and to a large extent, they have to hitch their wagon to a director and hope that they will continue to make films and succeed.
And eke out a hard life while having starry dreams.
The clichés abound about stars having to struggle for success. But every department in the film world has to find ways to survive while improving their craft. Right from set design to sound engineering to location hunting and casting.
That's possibly the reason why the high-priced courses at universities don't get graduates too far.
Unless they have made films on their own, they've acquired theoretical knowledge - but not the experience.
And that cannot be taught.
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