‘India is not for beginners’: Bengaluru-based US founder reveals how he’s been scammed in the country

“Indian is not for beginners,” says Tony Klor - he should know, for he’s been scammed multiple times in the country. The American founder of Catoff Gaming – a platform that leverages blockchain technology for competing with friends – has spent the last five months building a team in Bengaluru. In an exclusive conversation with Hindustan Times, Klor spoke about his time in India, the developer community of Bengaluru, his work and the myriad ways he’s been scammed as a foreigner in the country.

The first time Tony Klor arrived in Bengaluru, a bus driver stole his luggage. The driver then managed to ‘find’ the luggage again and returned it to Klor for the small fee of ₹1000.

“He just completely jacked it,” the founder of Catoff Gaming told Hindustan Times. “When I woke up on the night bus and asked where’s my bag, he went like ‘Oh, it’s missing.’

“And then, 10 minutes later, he [the bus driver] said he had found my luggage, but asked me to pay ₹1,000 to get it back.”

Fake wedding scam

Another time, Klor was conned into paying the hefty bill of a five-star meal when he fell for a fake wedding scam.

He revealed that he got into a conversation with a man in Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park who invited him to a friend’s wedding. “We were vibing at Cubbon Park. He was very nice, very cordial,” said Klor.

The “kid” then asked Klor whether he wanted to go for lunch, and took him to Taj Bangalore. At the five-star restaurant, he began running up the bill by ordering one exorbitantly-priced dish after the other, along with cocktails.

Meanwhile, Klor made his way to Commercial Street to buy a kurta for the wedding they were supposed to attend together. But when the time came to leave for the venue, the scammer told Klor that he could no longer go to his best friend’s wedding because it was raining outside.

“That’s when I realised I’d been scammed,” he told Hindustan Times.

(Also read: US founder in Bengaluru abused by jobseeker he rejected: ‘Call your mother and…’)

These instances stand out in a sea of smaller scams he has experienced during his time in India - from people in fake accidents begging for money to fake monks extorting cash - but the Bengaluru-based founder says experience has only made him tougher.

In fact, scams aside, he is full of praise for the Silicon Valley of India. “Bangalore is a highly intellectual place. People are highly sophisticated,” he told Hindustan Times. “The intellectual capital that persists here is truly second to none. People are absolutely brilliant.”