Nidhi Razdan Says Harvard University Offer Bogus, Result of ‘Sophisticated and Coordinated’ Phishing Attack

File photo of former NDTV journalist Nidhi Razdan.

Former NDTV Journalist Nidhi Razdan said on Friday that she has been the victim of a “sophisticated and coordinated phishing attack” that led her to believe that she was offered a teaching position at Harvard University. The offer, she confirmed, was never extended by the prestigious varsity team and she had been the victim of a sophisticated scam.

In June 2020, Razdan left NDTV saying that she had been offered the position of associate professor of journalism at the Ivy League University.

Razdan, who worked as a television journalist for more than two decades, tweeted on Friday that he noticed “a series of administrative anomalies” after his publication was delayed from September 2020 to January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I have been the victim of a very serious phishing attack. I am posting this statement to make things clear about what I have been through. I will not address this issue further on social media. pic.twitter.com/bttnnlLjuh

– Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) January 15, 2021

“At first, I had dismissed these anomalies as reflecting the new normal dictated by the pandemic, but recently the statements made to me were of an even more disturbing nature.

“As a result, I contacted the higher authorities at Harvard University for clarity. At their request, I shared some of the correspondence that I believed I received from the university,” he said in the statement.

Stating that the entire episode was the result of a phishing attack and that the university had not extended the offer, he said: “The perpetrators of this attack used clever falsifications and misrepresentations to gain access to my personal data and communications and may also have gained access to my devices and my email / social media accounts. “

He added that he filed a police report and provided the documentary evidence. “I have asked them to take immediate steps to identify, apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of this heinous attack.”

Razdan said he has also written to Harvard University on the matter and “urged them to take it seriously.”

Several Indian journalists and authors such as Saba Naqvi and Aparna Jain supported Razdan and tweeted that the culprits should be caught as soon as possible.