Kolkata police have successfully linked a hugely popular TV series with one of the most dramatic cricket spats in recent history to drive home a message that can save many Kolkatans from online fraud.
The Facebook page of the city police had a meme posted on Tuesday morning. It has the “Professor” of Money Heist, the Spanish TV series, asking for an “OTP sent to your phone”.
Responding to his request are cricketers Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli, both with their pointer fingers held against their lips. The shut-up gesture is warning people not to divulge an OTP on being asked by caller.
Money Heist (La Casa de Papel) became one of the most-watched TV series ever after it landed on streaming platform Netflix. The Professor, played by Alvaro Morte, is the mastermind of the heist who orchestrates much of the heist by guiding his gang over the phone.
Cut to cricket.
The Ekana stadium in Lucknow saw a thrilling IPL encounter on Monday evening as Bangalore beat the home team, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), in a low-scoring match.
In the previous match between the two sides in Bangalore, LSG secured a last-ball, one-wicket victory. Gambhir, the LSG mentor, had shushed the crowd at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium while celebrating that win.
On Monday, Royal Challengers star Kohli reprised the gesture at Ekana.
Shushing the crowd was not all. An on-field exchange between LSG bowler Naveen-ul-Haq and Kohli seemed to spill on the post-match shaking of hands between the players and support staff. Within minutes, Kohli and Gambhir were engaged in what seemed a heated exchange.
Till 7pm on Tuesday, the Facebook post by Kolkata police had attracted over 180 comments and 3,000 likes.
“When you want to be a meme maker but have to work for the police under family pressure,” read a comment.
“Best meme page I have ever seen. You are rocking Kolkata Police,” said another user.
An increasing number of Kolkatans are being duped online, prompting the police to place special focus on spreading awareness against such ploys.
A large number of frauds are committed through social media, impersonation of bank officials, sharing of OTP, misuse of e-commerce platforms, clicking on unknown links and luring people with false credit points.
Awareness campaigns by Kolkata police, online or offline, have not been short on creativity.
In 2013, an advertising campaign on road safety rules, featuring the iconic 1969 Abbey Road album cover of The Beatles, became a runaway hit.
In June 2018, a meme captured Lionel Messi’s moment of despair after missing a penalty in a World Cup match against Iceland. There was an accompanying image of a traffic sergeant penalising a helmet-less biker. A caption read: “You’ll never miss a penalty. We won’t let you!”
An assistant commissioner at Lalbazar told The Telegraph on Tuesday: “Our social media activities are handled by a dedicated social media cell. While the team is outsourced, every content has to be validated by senior officers.”
Additional reporting by Monalisa Chaudhuri