Nidhi Razdan, formerly a journalist with NDTV, has revealed in a statement on Twitter that she has been the victim of a “sophisticated and coordinated phishing attack”.
In June 2020, she had said on Twitter that she was quitting her job at NDTV to teach journalism at the reputed Harvard University. “Later this year, I start as an Associate Professor teaching journalism as part of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences”, she had tweeted.
Some personal and professional news: 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 1/n
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) June 13, 2020
I will miss my colleagues deeply. Most of all, I want to thank @PrannoyRoyNDTV @radhikaroyndtv for being the most incredible mentors and bosses. You took me in as a 22 year old and believed in me. I never say never, so TV may one day beckon again. Wish me luck
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) June 13, 2020
However, in her recent tweet she has declared that the job offer from Harvard was a hoax. “I have been the victim of a very serious phishing attack. I’m putting this statement out to set the record straight about what I’ve been through. I will not be addressing this issue any further on social media”, she said in a tweet.
In her statement, Nidhi Razdan said, “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.”
Pictured: Part 1 of Nidhi Razdan's statement
“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,” her statement continued.
After further communications with Harvard University, she soon realized that there was, in reality, no job offer from Harvard. What had transpired was an elaborate con. Nidhi Razdan said, “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.”
Pictured: Part 2 of the statement
Nidhi Razdan said that the police and the authorities at Harvard University have been informed of the incident. A police complaint has been filed, although it is unclear whether the former journalist has suffered any financial losses due to this scam. “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”, she said.