'What an embarrassment!': Twitter stunned as Nidhi Razdan's move to Harvard turns out to be 'phishing attack'

'What an embarrassment!': Twitter stunned as Nidhi Razdan's move to Harvard turns out to be 'phishing attack'

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Friday, January 15, 2021, 06:40 PM IST
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Six months after journalist and new anchor Nidhi Razdan quit her job at NDTV to teach at Harvard University, she revealed that she had been a victim of 'sophisticated phishing attack'.

In June 2020, Razdan revealed her resignation from NDTV and her new career path, which will be teaching journalism at the prestigious Harvard University.

"After 21 years at NDTV, I am changing direction and moving on. Later this year, I start as an Associate Professor teaching journalism as part of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences," she posted on the micro blogging site.

However, now, six months later, she said that she was a victim of phishing attack.

Razdan on Twitter said that she was preparing for her stint at Harvard that was slated to begin in September 2020, but the classes were called off due to the pandemic. She was told that the classes will begin in January 2021, she said.

As her classes were about to begin, she noticed a number of anomolies in the process, she said.

Taking to Twitter, she revealed what exactly happened to her move to Harvard.

"In June 2020 and after 21 years with NDTV, I decided to move on and said that I would be joining Harvard University as an Associate Professor of Journalism.

I had been given to believe that I would be joining the University in September 2020. While I was making preparations to take up my new assignment, I was later told that due to the ongoing pandemic, my classes would commence in January 2021. Along with these delays, I began noticing a number of administrative anomalies in the process being described to me. At first, I had dismissed these anomalies as being reflective of the new normal being dictated by the pandemic, but recently the representations being made to me were of an even more disquieting nature. As a result, I reached out to senior authorities at Harvard University for clarity. Upon their request, I shared some of the correspondence that I believed I had received from the University.

After hearing from the University, I have now learnt that I have been the victim of a sophisticated and coordinated phishing attack. I did not, in fact, receive an offer by Harvard University to join their faculty as an Associate Professor of Journalism. The perpetrators of this attack used clever forgeries and misrepresentations to obtain access to my personal data and communications and may have also gained access to my devices and my email/social media accounts. Alarmed at the scale of this attack, I have filed a complaint with the police and provided them with all the relevant documentary evidence. I have requested them to take immediate steps to identify, apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of this abominable attack. Separately I have written to the Harvard University authorities and urged them to take the matter seriously.

In the past few days, I have written to individuals and organizations with whom I have been in touch with over the past few months to keep them informed of this shocking development. I hope that the police are able to get to the bottom of this attack on me at the earliest and help me bring this unsavoury incident to a swift end."

Just few hours later, she said that she is "taking a well earned break from social media for a few days and will return refreshed."

Netizens mocked the journalist and said "shows the level of journalism standards."

A Twitter user said, "Hello @Nidhi, While I was studying in London, I got an offer from Honda & it sounded absolutely real on mail. But I knew my Aukat that at this stage Honda won't hire me so I ignored. And guess what? It was a SCAM! Bas apni aukat pata rahe insaan ko aur accept karna chahiye usey!"

Someone even made Harvard University's parody account to tweet "I'm sorry babu."

Check out reactions here:

Nidhi Razdan hosted the popular show, Left Right and Centre, on NDTV. NDTV had won the IPI India Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2019, for its coverage of rape and murder of a young girl in Kathua and the aftermath, spearheaded by Nidhi Razdan.

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