The April Fool's Day is not widely practiced in our town and perhaps around the country. I think many people are not even aware of it although I'm not sure in recent times if the younger generations have picked it up. So yeah, I don't have any jokes made on that particular day but recently, on the 3rd of April to be more specific, I played a light joke on my niece.
She reached out to me asking about something she encountered online. She said she had been playing a block game and discovered some juicy amounts in the rewards tab with the "Withdraw" enabled in all of them. She sounded so ecstatic and sent me this screenshot on our private chat.
I knew right then it was not legit but I didn't want to spoil her good mood instantly. She was excited eh! But if we were on a video call, she would have seen me shaking my head and grinning foolishly, lol!
She said she would try cashing out the smallest amount (Php 50k, about $900). Is she really that naive? I was monologuing in my thoughts.
I decided to play along and said it was okay, but she should let me know first what was required before she went further. I didn't want her to proceed all the way and risk things.
As shown in the screenshot, the cash-out method is through GCash, one of the most popular eWallets here in the country. Anyone at a legal age can open an account and do KYC.
Anyhow, she proceeded and sent me the next screenshot. She already entered her GCash account number (I erased it from the photo) and all she needed to do was tap on "confirm" (Kumpirmahin).
"Tita, should I confirm now?" she couldn't wait. At the other end of the line, I was thinking about how to drop the bomb (that it was fake) without being obvious that I knew it all along.
"Not yet. Does your GCash have funds in it" I asked in return. She mentioned there's about $300 or so.
"Would you want to lose that $300 of yours to check if the app is legit?" I asked in a teasing tone. She may have picked up what I meant that she laughed.
"Did you really think it was real? Who in the world would be mad enough to pay you that much just by playing blocks?" I teased her further.
She got the message and kept laughing. 馃槀
I couldn't hold it anymore and laughed out the loudest too. "I didn't check but I'm sure there are reviews online about that game. Just do a quick search and you will find out that it's not legit." I suggested.
She hung up and called again a few minutes later saying she uninstalled the app from her phone because she discovered that it was deceptive. "I was in my head thinking I could be sitting pretty with my baby for a year with all that money," she was trying to conceal the embarrassment, lol!
I did remind her to be careful with things that are too good to be true, especially online because countless scams and fake stuff are almost everywhere.
We hung up still giggling kinda crazily. My niece's naivety made me laugh, even until today馃槄
And this is my approach to the BoM topic, April Fools Day.
Lead image was edited on Canva. Screenshots courtesy of my niece, via Treasure Block app. No copyright infringement intended. 14042024/21:10ph
