[madbullram]

Dear all,
I am writing this with some bitter taste. I have heard these incidents in US but now to hear that it happened to my best buddy makes me sit straight and think.

For obvious reasons, I am not naming him. Lets call him Mr.E (Enthu bugger that he is). He is majorly into gaming and you will see him a lot active in most of the Indian forums and so on. At 25, this guy is full of energy and world at his feet. Goes out of his way to help anyone. His posts are always well thought out, informative, and does everything that he can. Infact, thats how i became a friend to him when I had gone to his house to check out a Graphic Card he had sourced from US even before it hit US market. We instantly hit off and became very close friends. You get his profile right, not going to go more into detail. He is like many in our forum and similar to Venkat CR when it comes to explanation and help.

Two tuesdays before, he gets a PM from a member saying he loves his rig and would love to meet him. So Mr.E, as always, promptly responds and send his number and asks him to call up. They chit chat on phone and the member introduces himself as a Team Lead in a reputed call center. So they decide to hook up on friday evening for a session on Audio and Gaming as both are into it. The member checks with Mr.E if he can get his girl friend along as she also loves this. Mr.E the gracious person he is says, yes buddy pls do. My GF also will be there so we can have family jam. So all set.

Friday:
The member calls Mr.E and arrives at his place sans his girl friend. Mr.E welcomes and they get talking of stuff. The member says his GF will join in an hour as she is completing some person work. The member gives them tropicana apple and KF beer. They get talking and Mr.E talks about his childhood and how his dad is US and no mother and enjoying life here. His GF, very nice girl, also gets into the conversation and talk about their planned marriage etc and serving chats to them.

They all have the Beer and apple juice and some snacks.

Saturday morning 7 am:
Mr.E wakes up to find all his belongings gone, money rigs everything. Still dizzy and his GF still unconscious, rushes to hospital. They have been sedated with a drug but nothing serious. They get treated in OP and are back home.

The harsh reality is everything gone, rigs, money, LCDs laptop etc etc.

The girl is in shock, she is still not out of it and is under psychiatric treatment. She is recovering well and both have moved to Chennai now as we are all here and its easy for them to get back to life. Mr.E has no smile on his face, is always silent now, we are doing our best to get him back to life.

I am little happy with this, why?
1. They stole just the money and stuff
2. The girl was not touched, u know what all could have happened in this MMS crazy world
3. Both are alive with no injuries nothing though the internal ones are something we all are fighting with them

Now, why I narrate this here:
1. We have many members here similar to Mr. E, who invite people home for audition
2. We have many members here who goes to someone's house to check their gear

We all have done that BUT pls pls pls ensure you use caution and common sense before you invite someone or visit someone.
Do not invite/visit a newbie.
Be sure that you know about the person
Meet at a common place first
Do use due diligence first
If you invite someone home, ensure you have a crowd and not just you and your family.

Sorry about the long post, I will be heart wrenched to see something like this happen to my fellow Team Bhpians and also I am sure you are part of multiple other e-forums. So pls be cautious.

Its good to help, pls ensure by helping you dont end up needing HELP!

[nitrous]

Thanks for sharing this terrifying incident for the benefit of the community, Ram.

In the automotive community, its best not to lend the vehicle for a "test drive" or sorts to any newbie.

[MutantX]

yea, it is very very scary. It is better to be safe. It was first orkut followed by facebook and now it is public forums!

[Lukeskywalker]

Oh my God. This is horrible, but I've always believed in trusting people, many of my friends are because of the virtual world of internet, but this incident does make me rethink my affinity towards people. thanks for the warning madbullram.

[aargee]

Ram - Thank you from bottom of my heart; I always believe in trusting people from the same community, but this is giving a real head up. Thanks for the warning Ram.

[Otomobil]

Ram-

An real eye opener for sure !

Thanks for the heads up though.

[Torqy]

Sorry to hear that.

I've seen people give away personal details so easily without a second thought. Cell numbers are not to be distributed to everybody. I've seen people post their mobile numbers in public threads here in this forum instead of private messages.

I'm always amused by people who call back an unfamiliar number if they see a missed call. I guess these are the same people who take time to reply to all the junk mails they get.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by nitrous

In the automotive community, its best not to lend the vehicle for a "test drive" or sorts to any newbie.

Very Rightly said Sir, However My friend learned the Hard way he is also Pretty Similar To MR E and he recently bought a New Cruze we went to watch Inception day before yesterday and while dropping of one of our friends Back home We stepped out for a Smoke break when we reached his apartment, One of his Neighbourhood friends walked by and after all of us exchanged Pleasentries he got talking on the Cruze and how he was also in a dillema, between choosing a cruze and a laura and Being Like MR E my friends gets all over Enthu and starts expalining and reasoning on why The Cruze is a better car then The Laura, Now Coming to the incident

They Guy asks for a Test drive, He politely Obliges even though me and my other friend are staring at him giving him weird looks as to what the Heck!! But since it aint our car we merrily Hop in, The gentleman drives out of the Appartment Gates and takes a left drives for about a Km Then when he takes it past 2k Rpm The Whoosh Whoosh of the Turbo gets to him Thats when he decides to floor it BUt Theres a Tata 407 ahead so Schumi decides to overtake without actually checking first and pops out from behind the Truck while flooring it with the Whoosh whoosh.. And there is Oncoming traffic so he tries going behind the truck as soon as he gets behind it The Truck driver Breaks!! The car goes Bang into the truck with the breaks screaming, Out Pop The Air bAgs by the time we stop and assess the damage Truck's Gone. Total DAmage Close To 2 lakhs!!

Moral Of the story Never Try to be the Wise Guy!

P.S The look On my friends face was Priceless

[mukundmenon]

just makes me feel sick... I would hate to be that gullible.I too have my own monster rig and arrange frag parties once a while with colleagues.Guess we all can learn a lesson or two from this.i feel Really sad for his loss.i know how hard (expensive) it is to make a dream rig.

[aaggoswami]

This is shocking. I mean, you are out there to share your enthusiasm, enjoy the common interests, love to help others only to end up like this ?
Being a guy who loves computers, I feel bad for your friend.

The best part is that the only major loss is monetary and no physical harm is done.

[pjbiju]

I tend to trust anyone on Team-Bhp just because they are members here. I think many team-bhpians have a similar trust. I think we need to be careful since there have been incidents of this trust being broken even on team-bhp. This is similar to accepting food and drink from strangers on trains/buses etc. only to get drugged and valuables stolen.

Can you not reveal the handle name of the bugger who cheated your friend? It might help others. Also should it not be posted on the forum where that cheater is a member?

Thank you for the warning Ram.

[sdp1975]

Really sorry to hear of the incident.

This is a criminal case. Has a police complaint been filed ? The cops can track down based on the IP from which the PM was sent.

[pranavt]

Why would you invite strangers to your place for a party? (family jam? Seriously? ) What next, a lecture on how we should keep the house doors closed at night?

[Torqy]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

I tend to trust anyone on Team-Bhp just because they are members here. I think many team-bhpians have a similar trust. I think we need to be careful since there have been incidents of this trust being broken even on team-bhp.

Yes, online forums are just that. Online forums.
One should tread carefully.

-- Torqy

[prince_pervez]

Mr. E trust a stranger blindly. Getting him home with GF and all is a little over the top. But I like such people who are clean hearted and love to have fun. I feel bad for your friend and thank God nothing happened to him. Materials can be gained, trust is a little expensive in the market.