India, Jan. 9 -- A few days ago, my phone rang with an unsettling authority. The man on the other end claimed to be from the police department and alleged that my number was linked to unlawful activities in Kashmir. The accusation was absurd - I was attending a wedding in another city at the time - yet the confidence in his voice was enough to momentarily unnerve me. He instructed me to move to a quieter room to continue the conversation. In hindsight, I should have challenged him outright. Instead, instinct took over: I ended the call and blocked the number, shaken but unharmed.

This was not my first brush with deception. A few months earlier, an acquaintance sent me an urgent message requesting money, assuring repayment by evening. The...