Nidhi Razdan, who was working as a news anchor at controversial far-left news outlet NDTV, on Friday claimed that she was the victim of a phishing attack and that Harvard University never offered her a position as an associate professor in journalism.
Razdan, who was boasting of being an Assistant Professor at Harvard University all along, faced reality recently after it was revealed to her that she was not at all considered as a faculty at the prestigious university and somebody had lied to her about the same.
Ever since the news about Nidhi Razdan allegedly being the victim of the phishing scam broke out, netizens have taken to social media to debate about the reasons for Razdan’s massively embarrassing situation. Several people highlighted the inconsistencies in her claim that she was cheated by some people for almost seven months, while some said that the far-left news anchor who has been caught several times peddling fake news did not deserve Harvard university in the first place.
How social media is reacting to the Nidhi Razdan fiasco
Senior Journalist Soumyadipta took to Twitter to question the intellect of Nidhi Razdan as he asked how could she, who worked at NDTV for over 21 years, not perform proper checks with Harvard University before moving to the US. Raising suspicion on Nidhi’s claims, the journalist questioned her claims saying how could she not verify the claims before claiming to be a victim of a phishing attack.
I am not being able to comprehend this!
— Soumyadipta (@Soumyadipta) January 15, 2021
Nidhi Razdan, a journalist, says that she left her job with NDTV after 21 years without properly checking with Harvard University and many months later, realised that it was a phishing attack.
Harvard never really offered her a job.
Really? https://t.co/HURbxfy1C8
Another user also raised doubts over her claims saying that her theories look improbable. Rosy, the Twitter user, said how could Nidhi Razdan who claims to be a journalist did not check with the authorities at Harvard or receive proper verbal communication confirming the appointment before quitting her job at NDTV. All this just does not add up, she said.
This seems quite improbable. How could a journalist of her standing as Nidhi Razdan not have checked with the Authorities at Harvard – Proper verbal communication confirming appointment – before quitting her job at NDTV? All this just doesnt add up. #Harvard #NidhiRazdan https://t.co/I553Fwzu6e
— Rosy (@rose_k01) January 15, 2021
Social media users remembered how Nidhi Razdan not only become a victim of phishing scam but also highlighted how she tried to unethically proclaim herself to be an Assistant Professor at Harvard University. NDTV had even gone to the extent of inviting Nidhi Razdan to its panel discussion by wrongly referring to her as an Assistant Professor at the Harvard.
Arre yaaaaaaar 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/WROMimB00V
— अंकित जैन (@indiantweeter) January 15, 2021
Rajesh Juyal also had an interesting point to make. According to Juyal, the alleged phishing attack on Nidhi Razdan was nothing but controversial news anchor getting the taste of her own medicine and termed it as ‘Tit for Tat’ for spreading fake news and building false narratives solely to defame Prime Minister Modi.
NDTV is known for spreading fake news/building false narratives solely to defame Modi. Tit for tat, ex NDTV journalist Nidhi Razdan got the taste of her own medicine. https://t.co/Hv7wj6dqgo
— Rajesh Juyal (@RajeshJuyal58) January 15, 2021
Another social media user who goes by the name ‘Un-bhadralok bangali’ said Nidhi Razdan’s tweet was nothing but a piece of art and the greatest trick one ever pulled off. He called the plan to trap Nidhi Razdan was just ‘brilliant’ and added that whoever did that deserves massive respect.
He also added that the alleged conning of Nidhi Razdan showed the level of intellect of such journalists.
Read Nidhi Razdan’s latest tweet. This is a piece of art and the greatest trick one ever pulled off.
— Un-bhadralok bangali (@goonereol) January 15, 2021
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Who ever did that deserves massive respect.🙏🏽🙏🏽🤣
Also shows the level of intellect of these journalists. In the mud totally.
Anna, a social media user, made some interesting observations pertaining to the entire fiasco saying that there were no interviews, phone calls from Harvard and despite that Nidhi Razdan claimed that she got a job offer from Harvard University. He asked whether Nidhi Razdan’s claim were just like NDTV’s Prime Time show.
– No Interviews
— Anna (@annaranjan) January 15, 2021
– No Phone Calls
– No Proofs
– No Cross-Checks
Sounds like a NDTV Prime Time?
No, it’s Nidhi Razdan Harvard Job Offer!
Some of the netizens also tried to explore the funny side of the whole controversy and posted some humorous memes.
Professor Associate
— Cārvāka Rishi (@Rishisharmait) January 15, 2021
professor pic.twitter.com/L3v1J439cm
Forget about Harvard University I will still doubt if Nidhi Razdan gets any offer even from this University pic.twitter.com/d679NN5wYC
— Amit Kumar (@AMIT_GUJJU) January 15, 2021
Nidhi Razdan is going to play herself in second season of scam series Scam 2020 directed by NDTV.
— Sunanda Roy 👑 (@SaffronSunanda) January 15, 2021
Nidhi Razdan was scammed on Harvard Professor job
In a terse statement on Twitter, she said, “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.”
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.”
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. pic.twitter.com/bttnnlLjuh
— Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) January 15, 2021
“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,” the statement added.
However, she realized that she had been conned after receiving replies from Harvard University. She 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.”
Nidhi Razdan said that she has informed the police and authorities at Harvard University of the matter. A police complaint has been filed, however, it is unclear whether she suffered financial losses due to the scam. But it does appear that she left her job at NDTV because of the ‘job offer’. However, that is not yet confirmed. She said, “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.”