The World We Live In!

I normally don’t pickup promotional calls from +91114... numbers, but yesterday (3rd Feb 2018), I was expecting a service call from my Broadband Service Provider Airtel, so picked up a call from +911141216900 and it turned out to be a promotional call. I wanted to cut the phone, but they started telling me information about my last purchase from PayTM, and I continued with the call. They had my full name, phone number, last purchase details (according to them) including the item & price from PayTM, and my complete shipping address including pin code. Unfortunately for them, it was not my latest purchase from PayTM, as I had ordered few items after that as well. But I continued with the call to understand where they are going with this.  They explained to me a reward point system which has won me some electronic gadget and I just need to claim it. I have to visit a website called www.shoppingcraving.com and fill up a contest form. This form will also require me to pay 1499...

Mobile Wallet is in thing today with demonetization and PayTM has gained the most acceptance from the cash crunch situation. There are other wallet services in the market, but for some reason, PayTM acceptance is much more than any other. Maybe that happened because they had inside information, or they have used our PM for promotion, I don’t know that. But this post is not about how they got so much acceptance. In fact, I am thankful that they got such wide acceptance as it helped me to go on with my life since demonetization without much of hassle. I have been using PayTM to pay for my Uber ride, for small purchases done at grocery or stationary store; I have even used it once in Pune for Tea on a small roadside vendor as well. I had few incidents which made me realise not to depend on PayTM fully, and this post is all about those incidents. I am not defaming PayTM service, but the idea is to tell you all not to depend “only” on PayTM or any Wallet. You need to keep your options a...