Daily Archives: October 17, 2022

Google Completes Rollout of iOS 16 Lock Screen Widgets With Updates to Maps and Search – MacRumors

Posted: October 17, 2022 at 10:24 am

Google has now rolled out all of the promised Lock Screen widgets for its iPhone apps, including the Google app, Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome, Google News, and Google Drive.

The rollout was completed today with two Lock Screen widgets for Maps, following five widgets for the Google app that were released on Wednesday. In version 233.0 of the Google app, the widgets include the following descriptions, with two widget sizes for Search:

Version 6.40 of Google Maps adds widgets for Search and Frequent Trips, with the latter displaying the location, estimated time of arrival, and traffic conditions:

Equivalent widgets can be found in Google News, Gmail, Drive, and Chrome. Once the apps are updated on your device, launch the new versions first before trying to add the widgets, otherwise they won't appear in the Lock Screen editor.

Google Earth is an illusion: how I am using art to explore the problematic nature of western maps and the myth of ‘terra nullius’ – The Conversation

Posted: at 10:24 am

Within western society, maps are often perceived as scientific, neutral and objective tools. Map making has always been shaped by our social and cultural relationships to the land. In the last 20 years, approaches to map creation have become much more reliant on photographic and digital technologies, including Google Earth.

However, these technologies carry a rarely acknowledged subjective and colonial agenda towards representing place.

My artistic exploration of western maps began during my honours year in 2020 and has since become a key part of my PhD research. Due to the pandemic, travel to Pitta Pitta Country was prohibited, therefore making it impossible for me to create photographs of Country for my project.

Pitta Pitta is located in western Queensland, 300 kilometres south of Mount Isa. My maternal great-grandmother Dolly Creed was stolen from Country as a young child and my family has been dislocated since. My understanding of this landscape is informed by oral history, and my relationship to it is shaped by my distance from it.

I grew up on Wadawurrung Country, an hour south from Naarm (Melbourne), and have lived in Victoria my whole life. Like many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, my understanding of self is scarred by the atrocities my family have experienced due to colonisation.

These experiences heavily inform my practice and research.

Read more: Drawing data: I make art from the bodily experience of long-distance running

In response to COVID travel restrictions, I decided to go to Pitta Pitta virtually via Google Earth. While looking around Pitta Pitta via the street view function, I began noticing the inaccuracy of the technology. The images hadnt been updated since 2007, the technology glitched a lot and, most importantly, there was no acknowledgement of Indigenous Custodianship.

I went looking for places I recognised on Country within Google Earth to see what had been photographed.

On the outskirts of Boulia, a small town on Country, a Waddi tree sits. Waddi trees are rare species of Acacia endemic to central parts of Australia. This particular tree was a significant gathering place for my people.

Within Google Earth it had been reduced to a blob of pixels, a dark shadow smeared on a reddish landscape. I was angered that Google decided this tree was unimportant, but also began to wonder why.

Responding to Googles representation of the tree, Waddi Tree from my series (Dis)connected to Country aims to demonstrate where Google Earth has erased topographical information and Indigenous Knowledges of place.

My research addresses this gap. Waddi Tree layers a photograph I made of the tree during my last visit to Country in 2019 onto a screenshot from its location within Google Earth.

Through the omission of Indigenous Knowledges of place, western maps of Australia continue the false colonial narrative of terra nullius land belonging to no one.

The photographic technologies used within Google Earth dont allow, nor represent, the significant relationships Indigenous peoples have with Country. Photographic and digital images have also become intertwined with mapping in Google Earth. This changes how we relate to place, normalising a flattened and very limited view.

Read more: An Ode To My Grandmother: remaking the past using oral histories, theatre and music

Indigenous Knowledges of place are rooted in relationships which recognise that all forms of life have agency and are interconnected.

Put very simply, Country, all that it encompasses, and self are intertwined and valued equally.

Other images from the series seek to identify where the technology dysfunctions and breaks down within itself. I like to think of these glitches as tears in the technological fabric of Google Earth, and therefore the narratives the technology enforces. Pitta Pitta (Googles Earth) and Pitta Pitta (Published Without Permission) are freeze-frames from transitions between the aerial and street view functions which emphasise this glitch.

My research and arts practice are informed by my family history and my positionality as a Pitta Pitta woman.

I acknowledge my Ancestors and my great-grandmother Dolly whose story has shaped my family in unimaginable ways. Additionally, I extend my respects to the ongoing Custodians of the Kulin Nations where I work and live.

Sovereignty has never been ceded and it always was, and forever will be, Aboriginal land.

Ill finish with a quote from Indigenous scholar Aunty Mary Graham:

There is no Aboriginal equivalent to the Cartesian notion of I think therefore I am but, if there were, it would be I am located therefore I am. Place, being, belonging and connectedness all arise out of a locality in Land.

Read more: The air we breathe: how I have been observing atmospheric change through art and science

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Google Earth is an illusion: how I am using art to explore the problematic nature of western maps and the myth of 'terra nullius' - The Conversation

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Clouded in secrecy: presumptively Amazon- and Google-backed U.S. lobbying front (Coalition for Fair Software Licensing) sets new opacity record by not…

Posted: at 10:24 am

In the previous post I quoted from the official complaints of three Members of the European Parliament (all of them well-respected experts in technology policy-making) alleging violations of EU transparency rules by Google, Amazon, CCIA (an entity funded by them as well as by others, such as Apple), Meta, and four smaller lobbying fronts. There are strong indications that some of the same organizations--the ones whose names I just put in bold face--are also involved, in one form or another, with a dubious lobbying entity based in Washington, D.C., named "Coalition for Fair Software Licensing" (CFSL). That one was launched only a couple of weeks ago.

The extent of astroturfing by some Big Tech companies is as appalling as it is becoming absurd. I will call them out, relentlessly.

The CFSL was started to advocate in the U.S. nine of the ten principles for software licensing in the cloud that have previously been espoused by Amazon-backed CISPE in the EU. The primary targets of both CISPE and CFSL are Microsoft and Oracle. CISPE has been trying for a while to instigate an EU antitrust investigation against Microsoft, but the latter's new software licensing terms create new opportunities for the very type of company CISPE pretends to speak for: European cloud service providers (CSPs). I just emphasized the word "pretends" for a couple of reasons:

It's paradoxical that a group claiming to promote European digital sovereignty is primarily funded by Amazon, the biggest bully on the cloud services block. No company diminishes the business opportunity for European CSPs even half as much as Amazon does.

Benjamin Henrion, who was a key player in the fight against the EU software patents directive, drew my attention via Twitter to a recent event in Brussels where the CEO of a key complainant--Nextcloud--said (via video) that he didn't want to work out a solution when Microsoft contacted him: he prefers to keep fighting.

If I were an antitrust enforcer, I'd be unprepared to investigate a complaint by someone with that attitude. There's nothing wrong with having a set of values, but regulation is more like litigation than like legislation in the sense that if someone has a problem and the problem can be solved, a settlement is preferable--also from a public-interest perspective--over an unnecessary dispute. Mr. Karlitschek's belligerence raises the question of whether he's actually complaining as the CEO of a German open source company or as a sock puppet for Amazon. By contrast, the CEO of Epic Games is very serious about opening up mobile app distribution, but last year he testified under oath that if Apple had offered him terms that Epic would have considered acceptable, he'd have accepted them (which doesn't mean giving up one's policy positions). A smaller app developer, Kosta Eleftheriou, settled his U.S. litigation with Apple last month (previously he fended off Apple's motion to dismiss), yet keeps criticizing Apple's App Store terms and practices. Those who truly face a problem will be open to working out a solution.

It's also remarkable that Nextcloud's CEO claimed to know that the EU Commission would soon launch an investigation. Not only may DGCOMP--which has to prioritize wisely--very well conclude that Microsoft's modified licensing terms satisfactorily address any potential concerns, but even if an investigation was imminent, the Commission would communicate it through other channels than having a complainant reveal its plans at a small conference.

Interestingly, right after Nextcloud's Frank Karlitschek, Quentin Adam--the CEO of Clever Cloud-- raised some issues that small European CSPs are more concerned about, such as Google's advertising business (against which the EC is reportedly preparing a Statement of Objections) and Amazon's pricing model being allegedly designed to complicate multiclouding (combining services from multiple CSPs).

It really looks like some who complain about unfair software licensing terms would actually prefer to divert attention away from their own terms and practices, hoping to use the regulatory process to cement their own market position.

That newly-created Coalition for Fair Software Licensing has an "About the Coalition" page--but it doesn't list a single company. There's a CV of the organization's executive director, a former Senate aide and tech industry lobbyist (Ryan Triplette). But not a single company is named that would say it has problems with Microsoft's or Oracle's software licensing terms.

The Register reported on the CFSL's launch, and was told that "customers are concerned about speaking out publicly for fear of 'retaliatory behavior from software providers.'"

That is a serious allegation, but can it be taken seriously? A plausibility check is in order.

Why would any of those companies believe that the targets of their complaint would try to silence critics? And what do they believe would happen?

The Register continues: "Nobody wants the compliance team from Microsoft or Oracle knocking at the door."

Why would that be so much of a concern? If a company meets its obligations under a license agreement, it doesn't have to fear an audit. And even if it had anything to hide, what would the consequences be? Presumably they'd just have to pay the difference between what they reported before and what they were actually using the licensed software for. How is that retaliation by any reasonable standard?

A potential audit is not a reason to hide one's identity. If potential complainants have to be afraid of something, it's that gatekeepers abuse their power such as by rejecting apps or delaying reviews. It didn't prevent me from bringing formal complaints over Apple's and Google's COVID-related app rules. It's not preventing dozens of app makers, large and small, from being publicly listed as members of the Coalition for App Fairness.

I have heard from two major app makers (one very, very large company and a medium-sized European one) that they don't want to publicly complain over Apple's App Store rules. The larger one considers Apple's terms unreasonable, but at least they have dedicated contacts in Apple's App Review department (as did Epic Games until it threw down the gauntlet) that help them get updates reviewed quickly. They don't want to lose that privilege, so they hope others will do the job of bringing about change. The medium-sized one has some rather conservative shareholders who fear that Apple might make their company's products less discoverable. So, it is true that fear of retaliation sometimes does prevent companies from officially complaining. But fear of an audit--in other words, that you might just have to abide by a contract you signed--is not a credible reason, when some other companies even speak out publicly against tyrannical gatekeepers who have the power to arbitrarily prevent you from reaching billions of customers, or to make your life miserable in other ways.

Who is footing the Coalition for Fair Software Licensing's bills?

According to information they published on LinkedIn, they have 11-50 employees. That means a multi-million dollar budget. Where is the money coming from?

I have found two clues. The first one is so ridiculously hypocritical that it actually made me laugh (click on the image to enlarge):

There you have the so-called Computer & Communications Industry Association--which is actually, as I explained in a recent post, a Cash & Carry Industry Association--describing itself as a "longtime advocate for open systems and open networks." That's the same CCIA that supported its most influential member, Google, against the European Commission (fortunately the Commission has already prevailed twice in the EU General Court). It's also the same CCIA that is supporting Apple against Epic Games (the Ninth Circuit will hear Epic's appeal later this week). Presumably that's the #1 reason why Apple joined CCIA about a year ago.

CCIA doesn't give a damn about open systems and open networks or "competitive ideals." It's the enemy of open markets, of open systems, and of open networks. It's just a lobbying front for entrenched monopolists, and in the formal complaints I mentioned further above, three MEPs are accusing CCIA of having astroturfed for Google and Amazon: CCIA lobbied against legislation designed to open up markets and restore competition, and according to the complaints falsely claimed to do so on startups' behalf.

It's my sense of humor when a new lobbying entity springs up somewhere, claims to speak for a certain category of stakeholders it says are too afraid to reveal their identity (without any plausible reason why they'd have to be all that concerned)--and CCIA appears to have a hand in it. It reminds me of that Save Our Standards group that is also backed by CCIA (Despicably deceptive: Big Tech's Save Our Standards campaign presents small app developer as victim of standard-essential patent abuse though it NEVER had to license SEPs). Now all that's missing is ACT | The App(le) Association. But unlike CCIA backers Google and Amazon, Apple isn't in the CSP business.

While Google is not (at least not officially) involved with the CFSL's older European sister CISPE (unlike Amazon), it appears that Google is one of the backers of CFSL. On LinkedIn, Omid Ghaffari-Tabrizi (title: U.S. Federal Civilian Policy - Google Cloud) endorsed and amplified the CFSL's first statement.

Google and Amazon trying to harm the third large CSP, but hiding behind unnamed customers.

That cast of characters says a lot.

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Google selects Coinbase to take cloud payments with cryptocurrencies and will use its custody tool – CNBC

Posted: at 10:24 am

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian speaks during the Google Cloud Next event in San Francisco on April 9, 2019.

Michael Short | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Google said Tuesday that it will rely on Coinbase to start letting some customers pay for cloud services with cryptocurrencies early in 2023, while Coinbase said it would draw on Google's cloud infrastructure.

Coinbase shares rose as much as 8.4% in Tuesday's trading session, although the stock is still down over 70% for the year.

The deal, announced at Google's Cloud Next conference, might succeed in luring cutting-edge companies to Google in a fierce, fast-growing market, where Google's top competitors do not currently permit clients to pay with digital currencies. The cloud business helps diversify Google parent Alphabet away from advertising, and it now accounts for 9% of revenue, up from less than 6% three years ago, as it is expanding more quickly than Alphabet as a whole.

Coinbase, which generates a majority of its revenue from retail transactions, will move data-related applications to Google from the market-leading Amazon Web Services cloud, which Coinbase has relied on for years, said Jim Migdal, Coinbase's vice president of business development.

The Google Cloud Platform infrastructure service will initially accept cryptocurrency payments from a handful of customers in the Web3 world who want to pay with cryptocurrency, thanks to an integration with the Coinbase Commerce service, said Amit Zavery, vice president and general manager and head of platform at Google Cloud, in an interview with CNBC. Web3 is a buzzword that has come to stand for decentralized and distributed internet services that can't be controlled by big internet outfits such as Facebook or Google.

Over time, Google will allow many more customers to make payments with cryptocurrency, Zavery said. Coinbase Commerce supports 10 currencies, including Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dogecoin, Ethereum and Litecoin. Bitcoin, Dogecoin and Ethereum prices have all declined over 60% in the past year.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. But like other Coinbase Commerce arrangements, Coinbase will earn a percentage of transactions that go through it, Migdal said.

It wasn't a guarantee that Google would go with Coinbase for the payments portion of the deal. PayPal, for one, offers businesses a way to take payments with digital currencies. "We did look at other companies for the cryptocurrency side of it," Zavery said. Ultimately, he said, Coinbase had the greatest capability.

Google is also exploring how it can use Coinbase Prime, a service that securely stores organizations' cryptocurrencies and allows them to execute trades. Zavery said Google will experiment and "see how we can participate" with managing cryptocurrency assets. Block (the payments company formerly known as Square), Coinbase, MicroStrategy and Tesla are among the companies that have added digital currencies to their balance sheets. That can be a risky endeavor. Coinbase announced a $377 million impairment charge tied to a decline in the value of its cryptocurrency holdings in August.

Google had previously indicated in May that it was exploring the possibility of adding support for payments with digital currencies. Migdal said Coinbase had been in discussion with Google for months, with conversations about supporting commerce transactions, cloud usage and the Prime service all happening in parallel. "We decided to bring them together," he said.

Blockchain technologies such as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have become a bigger focus for Google's cloud division. Previously, Google's cloud chief, Thomas Kurian, has pushed for growth in major industries such as media and retail. This year it announced the formation of teams to drum up blockchain business and build tools that third-party developers can draw on to run blockchain applications.

WATCH: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reveals new details about pivot to subscriptions: CNBC Crypto World

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Move Over, Google: Samsung Wants to Reinvent the Phone Call, Too – CNET

Posted: at 10:24 am

Samsung is taking a page from theGoogle Pixelplaybook with its upcomingOne UI 5software update, which will be adding a new way to take calls onGalaxy phones. The Bixby Text Call feature will bring the ability to answer a phone call by texting, with the Bixby assistant transcribing between voice and text on both ends.

The feature is only available in Korean to start, but it's part of Samsung's effort to make multitasking on Galaxy devices easier in the future -- a theme it's leaning into throughout One UI 5 to further differentiate its devices from Apple's and Google's. The company plans to expand into other languages, including English, next year.

Samsung isn't the only one experimenting with ways to enhance the basic phone-calling experience. Google has rolled out a suite of new phone-centric features to Pixel devices that can screen calls on your behalf, wait on hold for you and even predict wait times when dialing toll-free numbers. Bixby Text Call is Samsung's most prominent answer yet to Google's ambitions to modernize phone calls.

"Bixby has evolved over many years as a specialized voice control agent," Sally Jeong, vice president and head of the Framework Research and Development Group for Samsung's Mobile Experience Business, said via a translator. "And it requires a lot of training of Bixby so that it can actually identify and understand the voices during phone calls."

However, Samsung's approach differs from Google's. Rather than having Bixby take over a phone call, it assists with your call by transcribing between voice and text for situations where it might not be suitable to answer a phone call. It's essentially blending texting and phone calls together.

Samsung's Bixby, as seen here on the Galaxy S10, has had limited success compared to other virtual assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant.

Part of why this feature is only launching now, roughly five years after Bixby's debut, is because the technology has reached a point where it can accurately understand colloquial speech. Differentiating between speech being received through the phone's microphone and the caller on the other end is another technical challenge that Samsung had to perfect before launching this feature.

"We have identified phone calls as the most effective or useful scenario for leveraging the technology," Jeong said in reference to how Bixby's speech recognition has progressed. "Because as you know, we all have experienced the pain points of having to leave the room to take an unexpected phone call."

When using Bixby Text Call, you'll be able to type a text message to answer an incoming call, which Bixby will then translate to speech for the caller on the other end. The caller will hear an automated message alerting them that the call is being answered through Bixby. After that, Bixby will translate the caller's speech to text for the recipient. The feature works on-device, meaning it's not sent to the cloud for processing, and the conversation transcript is saved in the Samsung call app. The audio itself is deleted right after the recognition process takes place, Samsung says.

Samsung sees an opportunity to further expand this technology in the future. Jeong said Samsung intends to eventually have Bixby screen for spam calls, similar to how the Google Assistant does thison Pixel phones in the US.

The Bixby spam filtering feature could be similar to the one seen on Pixel phones, which can intercept potential spam calls before they reach you.

"Filtering spam calls will definitely be one direction that we'll explore in addition to using your speech to turn it into text and vice versa," Jeong said, although she couldn't provide a timeline.

Samsung's Bixby voice assistant launched in 2017, but it hasn't gained as much traction as Apple's Siri, the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. A 2020 report from Voicebot.ai examining voice assistant adoption among US adults found that Samsung's Bixby only accounts for 6.7% of the phone-based voice assistant market, while Siri leads the pack at 45.1%. The Google Assistant placed in second with 29.9%, while Amazon's Alexa claimed 18.3%.

But Bixby usage has grown since 2018. That same report indicates that Samsung's market share jumped from 4.7% in 2018 to 6.7% in 2020, while Apple and Google's respective slices had slightly shrunk.

It remains to be seen whether features like Bixby Text Call will help bring Samsung's digital helper up to speed with alternatives from Apple and Google. But what is clear is that Apple, Google and Samsung are using their virtual assistants in attempts to improve the phone-calling experience.

Google, for example, just updated its Direct My Call feature, which uses the Google Assistant to transcribe automated phone menus. With the Pixel 7, the Google Assistant will transcribe those menus before they're spoken. Apple also added the ability to have Siri hang up a call hands-free and automatically send texts without requiring a confirmation in iOS 16.

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You Can Now Google the Balances of Ethereum Addresses – Decrypt

Posted: at 10:24 am

Google is now providing data on Ethereum addresses via its search engine. The worlds biggest website now tells you how much ETH some wallets hold when you punch an Etheruem address into the search bar.

The new feature works via block explorer Etherscan, a website that provides data on the Ethereum blockchain.

Crypto investor at Google Ventures Han Hua tweeted about the feature Tuesday. But when Decrypt tried it with several addresses, some worked and others didnt, which could mean that Google is rolling out the feature incrementally.

Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin. Its blockchain is used to build popular apps that are decentralized (known as dapps). It plays host to billions of dollars worth of DeFi and NFT trading activity.

Ethereum addresses are public and anyone can find out, with the right tools, how much ETH a wallet holds, what transactions it has made, and what applications its owner has interacted with on the network. Its the kind of data that can be very valuable to traders and analysts, and companies like Nansen have built businesses around making such data more easily accessible.

Google is becoming more crypto-focused: as first reported today by CNBC, the internet giant said that it would start using Coinbase to accept cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin to make payments for cloud services early next year.

And last month, Googles Web3 and Cloud head of strategy Richard Widmann told Decrypt that the company was working to grow its Web3 features. This suggests that Google, arguably one of the most important tech companies in the world, has its eyes firmly set on what is believed to be the next interaction of the internet which relies heavily on blockchains to function.

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Halloween 2022 Google trends: Heres what people are searching for – SILive.com

Posted: at 10:24 am

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Its spooky season!

Google has released its annual Fright Geist site, which captures the top Halloween trends nationally and locally.

This years most searched Halloween costumes in New York City include:

1. Fairy

2. Witch

3. Spiderman

4. Dinosaur

5. Stranger Things

The most searched Halloween costumes nationally include:

1. Witch

2. Spider-Man

3. Dinosaur

4. Stranger Things

5. Fairy

The site outlines that a spike in Halloween searches include spider webs, skeletons, witchcraft, vampires and cat eye contacts.

Many Halloween-related Google searches also include:

Top Partner/Couples costumes:

Most searched dog costumes:

Most searched baby costumes:

Most searched childrens costumes:

Top searched Halloween themed nails

Top searched Halloween makeup looks

Trending Halloween makeup looks

Top searched how to make decorations

Top searched jack-o-lantern patterns

Trending spooky cocktails

Trending Halloween-themed foods

Most searched Halloween episodes

Most searched Halloween movies

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Halloween 2022 Google trends: Heres what people are searching for - SILive.com

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Google Clock 7.3 rolls out with alarm pausing and more obvious multi-timer UI – 9to5Google

Posted: at 10:24 am

After debuting on the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, the latest version (7.3) of Google Clock is widely rolling out with a pair of appreciable usability tweaks.

In the first tab, youll notice that expanding alarm reveals a Pause alarm button that lets you select the dates to pause your alarm. You can either select start and end dates by tapping on the month view or entering via numpad.

This is much better (and safer) than toggling an alarm off and potentially forgetting to re-enable once youre back on schedule.

Meanwhile, the Timer tab does a better job of handling multiple active countdowns. Instead of only being able to see one at a time (and needing to scroll), each timer is a compact card with the Clock app fitting multiples on the same screen. The original increment is noted at the top with a tap letting you rename. A delete button is to the right of that, while you can quickly reset from within the circular countdown indicator.

The button for adding another minute is much more prominent with Google doing a good job of making things more obvious. The previous interface could be described as nice to look at and minimalistic, but its too clever by half for a tool that should be very straightforward given the heavy usage. Hidden UIs are unnecessary here, while it looks great on a tablet.

Google has also changed the screen that appears when a timer goes off to be brighter with a background color and tweaked buttons that are smaller.

Version 7.3 of Google Clock is widely rolling out to Pixel phones and other devices via the Play Store. Meanwhile, Google is also rolling out an update to Calculator (8.3) that doesnt appear to have any significant changes.

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Shamanism – Wikipedia

Posted: at 10:23 am

Religious practice

Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance.[1][2] The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world for the purpose of healing, divination, or to aid human beings in some other way.[1]

Beliefs and practices categorized as "shamanic" have attracted the interest of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including anthropologists, archaeologists, historians, religious studies scholars, philosophers and psychologists. Hundreds of books and academic papers on the subject have been produced, with a peer-reviewed academic journal being devoted to the study of shamanism.

In the 20th century, non-Indigenous Westerners involved in counter-cultural movements, such as hippies and the New Age created modern magico-religious practices influenced by their ideas of various Indigenous religions, creating what has been termed neoshamanism or the neoshamanic movement.[3] It has affected the development of many neopagan practices, as well as faced a backlash and accusations of cultural appropriation,[4] exploitation and misrepresentation when outside observers have tried to practice the ceremonies of, or represent, centuries-old cultures to which they do not belong.[5]

The Modern English word shamanism derives from the Russian word amn, which itself comes from the word samn from a Tungusic language[7] possibly from the southwestern dialect of the Evenki spoken by the Sym Evenki peoples,[8] or from the Manchu language.[9] The etymology of the word is sometimes connected to the Tungus root s-, meaning "to know".[10][11] However, Juha Janhunen questions this connection on linguistic grounds: "The possibility cannot be completely rejected, but neither should it be accepted without reservation since the assumed derivational relationship is phonologically irregular (note especially the vowel quantities)."[12]

Mircea Eliade noted that the Sanskrit word ramaa, designating a wandering monastic or holy figure, has spread to many Central Asian languages along with Buddhism and could be the ultimate origin of the word shaman.[13]

The term was adopted by Russians interacting with the indigenous peoples in Siberia. It is found in the memoirs of the exiled Russian churchman Avvakum.[14] It was brought to Western Europe twenty years later by the Dutch traveler Nicolaes Witsen, who reported his stay and journeys among the Tungusic- and Samoyedic-speaking indigenous peoples of Siberia in his book Noord en Oost Tataryen (1692).[15] Adam Brand, a merchant from Lbeck, published in 1698 his account of a Russian embassy to China; a translation of his book, published the same year, introduced the word shaman to English speakers.[16]

Anthropologist and archaeologist Silvia Tomaskova argued that by the mid-1600s, many Europeans applied the Arabic term shaitan (meaning "devil") to the non-Christian practices and beliefs of indigenous peoples beyond the Ural Mountains.[17] She suggests that shaman may have entered the various Tungus dialects as a corruption of this term, and then been told to Christian missionaries, explorers, soldiers and colonial administrators with whom the people had increasing contact for centuries.

A female shaman is sometimes called a shamanka, which is not an actual Tungus term but simply shaman plus the Russian suffix -ka (for feminine nouns).[18]

There is no single agreed-upon definition for the word "shamanism" among anthropologists. Thomas Downson suggests three shared elements of shamanism: practitioners consistently alter consciousness, the community regards altering consciousness as an important ritual practice, and the knowledge about the practice is controlled.

The English historian Ronald Hutton noted that by the dawn of the 21st century, there were four separate definitions of the term which appeared to be in use:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a shaman ( SHAH-men, or )[22] is someone who is regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits, who typically enters into a trance state during a ritual, and practices divination and healing.[1][22] The word "shaman" probably originates from the Tungusic Evenki language of North Asia. According to ethnolinguist Juha Janhunen, "the word is attested in all of the Tungusic idioms" such as Negidal, Lamut, Udehe/Orochi, Nanai, Ilcha, Orok, Manchu and Ulcha, and "nothing seems to contradict the assumption that the meaning 'shaman' also derives from Proto-Tungusic" and may have roots that extend back in time at least two millennia.[23] The term was introduced to the west after Russian forces conquered the shamanistic Khanate of Kazan in 1552.

The term "shamanism" was first applied by Western anthropologists as outside observers of the ancient religion of the Turks and Mongols, as well as those of the neighbouring Tungusic- and Samoyedic-speaking peoples. Upon observing more religious traditions around the world, some Western anthropologists began to also use the term in a very broad sense. The term was used to describe unrelated magico-religious practices found within the ethnic religions of other parts of Asia, Africa, Australasia and even completely unrelated parts of the Americas, as they believed these practices to be similar to one another.[24] While the term has been incorrectly applied by cultural outsiders to many indigenous spiritual practices, the words shaman and shamanism do not accurately describe the variety and complexity that is indigenous spirituality. Each nation and tribe has its own way of life, and uses terms in their own languages.[25]

Mircea Eliade writes, "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = 'technique of religious ecstasy'."[26] Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments and illnesses by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul or spirit are believed to restore the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. Shamans also claim to enter supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community. Shamans claim to visit other worlds or dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. Shamans operate primarily within the spiritual world, which, they believe, in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance is said to result in the elimination of the ailment.[26]

The anthropologist Alice Kehoe criticizes the term "shaman" in her book Shamans and Religion: An Anthropological Exploration in Critical Thinking. Part of this criticism involves the notion of cultural appropriation.[4] This includes criticism of New Age and modern Western forms of shamanism, which, according to Kehoe, misrepresent or dilute indigenous practices. Kehoe also believes that the term reinforces racist ideas such as the noble savage.

Kehoe is highly critical of Mircea Eliade's work on shamanism as an invention synthesized from various sources unsupported by more direct research. To Kehoe, citing that ritualistic practices (most notably drumming, trance, chanting, entheogens and hallucinogens, spirit communication and healing) as being definitive of shamanism is poor practice. Such citations ignore the fact that those practices exist outside of what is defined as shamanism and play similar roles even in non-shamanic cultures (such as the role of chanting in rituals in Abrahamic religions) and that in their expression are unique to each culture that uses them. Such practices cannot be generalized easily, accurately, or usefully into a global religion of shamanism. Because of this, Kehoe is also highly critical of the hypothesis that shamanism is an ancient, unchanged, and surviving religion from the Paleolithic period.[4]

The term has been criticized[by whom?] for its perceived colonial roots, and as a tool to perpetuate perceived contemporary linguistic colonialism. By Western scholars, the term "shamanism" is used to refer to a variety of different cultures and practices around the world, which can vary dramatically and may not be accurately represented by a single concept. Billy-Ray Belcourt, an author and award-winning scholar from the Driftpile Cree Nation in Canada, argues that using language with the intention of simplifying culture that is diverse, such as Shamanism, as it is prevalent in communities around the world and is made up of many complex components, works to conceal the complexities of the social and political violence that indigenous communities have experienced at the hands of settlers.[27] Belcourt argues that language used to imply simplicity in regards to indigenous culture, is a tool used to belittle indigenous cultures, as it views indigenous communities solely as a result of a history embroiled in violence, that leaves indigenous communities only capable of simplicity and plainness.

Anthropologist Mihly Hoppl also discusses whether the term "shamanism" is appropriate. He notes that for many readers, "-ism" implies a particular dogma, like Buddhism or Judaism. He recommends using the term "shamanhood"[28] or "shamanship"[29] (a term used in old Russian and German ethnographic reports at the beginning of the 20th century) for stressing the diversity and the specific features of the discussed cultures. He believes that this places more stress on the local variations[10] and emphasizes that shamanism is not a religion of sacred dogmas, but linked to the everyday life in a practical way.[30] Following similar thoughts, he also conjectures a contemporary paradigm shift.[28] Piers Vitebsky also mentions that, despite really astonishing similarities, there is no unity in shamanism. The various, fragmented shamanistic practices and beliefs coexist with other beliefs everywhere. There is no record of pure shamanistic societies (although their existence is not impossible).[31] Norwegian social anthropologist Hakan Rydving has likewise argued for the abandonment of the terms "shaman" and "shamanism" as "scientific illusions."[32]

Dulam Bumochir has affirmed the above critiques of "shamanism" as a Western construct created for comparative purposes and, in an extensive article, has documented the role of Mongols themselves, particularly "the partnership of scholars and shamans in the reconstruction of shamanism" in post-1990/post-communist Mongolia.[33] This process has also been documented by Swiss anthropologist Judith Hangartner in her landmark study of Darhad shamans in Mongolia.[34] Historian Karena Kollmar-Polenz argues that the social construction and reification of shamanism as a religious "other" actually began with the 18th-century writings of Tibetan Buddhist monks in Mongolia and later "probably influenced the formation of European discourse on Shamanism".[35]

Shamanism is a system of religious practice.[36] Historically, it is often associated with indigenous and tribal societies, and involves belief that shamans, with a connection to the otherworld, have the power to heal the sick, communicate with spirits, and escort souls of the dead to the afterlife. The origins of Shamanism stem from indigenous peoples of far northern Europe and Siberia.[37]

Despite structural implications of colonialism and imperialism that have limited the ability of indigenous peoples to practice traditional spiritualities, many communities are undergoing resurgence through self-determination[38] and the reclamation of dynamic traditions.[39] Other groups have been able to avoid some of these structural impediments by virtue of their isolation, such as the nomadic Tuvan (with an estimated population of 3000 people surviving from this tribe).[40] Tuva is one of the most isolated Asiatic tribes in Russia where the art of shamanism has been preserved until today due to its isolated existence, allowing it to be free from the influences of other major religions.[41]

There are many variations of shamanism throughout the world, but several common beliefs are shared by all forms of shamanism. Common beliefs identified by Eliade (1972)[26] are the following:

As Alice Kehoe[4] notes, Eliade's conceptualization of shamans produces a universalist image of indigenous cultures, which perpetuates notions of the dead (or dying) Indian[42] as well as the noble savage.[43]

Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits which affect the lives of the living.[44] Although the causes of disease lie in the spiritual realm, inspired by malicious spirits, both spiritual and physical methods are used to heal. Commonly, a shaman "enters the body" of the patient to confront the spiritual infirmity and heals by banishing the infectious spirit.

Many shamans have expert knowledge of medicinal plants native to their area, and an herbal treatment is often prescribed. In many places shamans learn directly from the plants, harnessing their effects and healing properties, after obtaining permission from the indwelling or patron spirits. In the Peruvian Amazon Basin, shamans and curanderos use medicine songs called icaros to evoke spirits. Before a spirit can be summoned it must teach the shaman its song.[44] The use of totemic items such as rocks with special powers and an animating spirit is common.

Such practices are presumably very ancient. Plato wrote in his Phaedrus that the "first prophecies were the words of an oak", and that those who lived at that time found it rewarding enough to "listen to an oak or a stone, so long as it was telling the truth".

Belief in witchcraft and sorcery, known as brujera in Latin America, exists in many societies. Other societies assert all shamans have the power to both cure and kill. Those with shamanic knowledge usually enjoy great power and prestige in the community, but they may also be regarded suspiciously or fearfully as potentially harmful to others.[45]

By engaging in their work, a shaman is exposed to significant personal risk as shamanic plant materials can be toxic or fatal if misused. Spells are commonly used in an attempt to protect against these dangers, and the use of more dangerous plants is often very highly ritualized.

Generally, shamans traverse the axis mundi and enter the "spirit world" by effecting a transition of consciousness, entering into an ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of entheogens or ritual performances.[56][57] The methods employed are diverse, and are often used together.

An entheogen ("generating the divine within")[60] is a psychoactive substance used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context.[61] Entheogens have been used in a ritualized context, in a number of different cultures, possibly for thousands of years. Examples of substances used by some cultures as entheogens include: peyote,[62] psilocybin and Amanita muscaria (fly agaric) mushrooms,[63] uncured tobacco,[64] cannabis,[65] ayahuasca,[66] Salvia divinorum,[67] and iboga.[68]

Entheogens also have a substantial history of commodification, especially in the realm of spiritual tourism. For instance, countries such as Brazil and Peru have faced an influx of tourists since the psychedelic era beginning in the late 1960s, initiating what has been termed "ayahuasca tourism."[69]

Just like shamanism itself,[10] music and songs related to it in various cultures are diverse. In several instances, songs related to shamanism are intended to imitate natural sounds, via onomatopoeia.[70]

Sound mimesis in various cultures may serve other functions not necessarily related to shamanism: practical goals such as luring game in the hunt;[71] or entertainment (Inuit throat singing).[71][72]

Shamans often claim to have been called through dreams or signs. However, some say their powers are inherited. In traditional societies shamanic training varies in length, but generally takes years.

Turner and colleagues[73] mention a phenomenon called "shamanistic initiatory crisis", a rite of passage for shamans-to-be, commonly involving physical illness or psychological crisis. The significant role of initiatory illnesses in the calling of a shaman can be found in the case history of Chuonnasuan, who was one of the last shamans among the Tungus peoples in Northeast China.[74]

The wounded healer is an archetype for a shamanic trial and journey. This process is important to young shamans. They undergo a type of sickness that pushes them to the brink of death. This is said to happen for two reasons:

Shamans may employ varying materials in spiritual practice in different cultures.

Shamans have been conceptualized as those who are able to gain knowledge and power to heal in the spiritual world or dimension. Most shamans have dreams or visions that convey certain messages. Shamans may claim to have or have acquired many spirit guides, who they believe guide and direct them in their travels in the spirit world. These spirit guides are always thought to be present within the shaman, although others are said to encounter them only when the shaman is in a trance. The spirit guide energizes the shamans, enabling them to enter the spiritual dimension. Shamans claim to heal within the communities and the spiritual dimension by returning lost parts of the human soul from wherever they have gone. Shamans also claim to cleanse excess negative energies, which are said to confuse or pollute the soul. Shamans act as mediators in their cultures.[79][80] Shamans claim to communicate with the spirits on behalf of the community, including the spirits of the deceased. Shamans believe they can communicate with both living and dead to alleviate unrest, unsettled issues, and to deliver gifts to the spirits.

Among the Selkups, the sea duck is a spirit animal. Ducks fly in the air and dive in the water and are thus believed to belong to both the upper world and the world below.[81] Among other Siberian peoples, these characteristics are attributed to waterfowl in general.[82] The upper world is the afterlife primarily associated with deceased humans and is believed to be accessed by soul journeying through a portal in the sky. The lower world or "world below" is the afterlife primarily associated with animals and is believed to be accessed by soul journeying through a portal in the earth.[83] In shamanic cultures, many animals are regarded as spirit animals.

Shamans perform a variety of functions depending upon their respective cultures;[84] healing,[49][85] leading a sacrifice,[86] preserving traditions by storytelling and songs,[87] fortune-telling,[88] and acting as a psychopomp ("guide of souls").[89] A single shaman may fulfill several of these functions.[84]

The functions of a shaman may include either guiding to their proper abode the souls of the dead (which may be guided either one-at-a-time or in a group, depending on the culture), and the curing of ailments. The ailments may be either purely physical afflictionssuch as disease, which are claimed to be cured by gifting, flattering, threatening, or wrestling the disease-spirit (sometimes trying all these, sequentially), and which may be completed by displaying a supposedly extracted token of the disease-spirit (displaying this, even if "fraudulent", is supposed to impress the disease-spirit that it has been, or is in the process of being, defeated so that it will retreat and stay out of the patient's body), or else mental (including psychosomatic) afflictionssuch as persistent terror, which is likewise believed to be cured by similar methods. In most languages a different term other than the one translated "shaman" is usually applied to a religious official leading sacrificial rites ("priest"), or to a raconteur ("sage") of traditional lore; there may be more of an overlap in functions (with that of a shaman), however, in the case of an interpreter of omens or of dreams.

There are distinct types of shamans who perform more specialized functions. For example, among the Nani people, a distinct kind of shaman acts as a psychopomp.[90] Other specialized shamans may be distinguished according to the type of spirits, or realms of the spirit world, with which the shaman most commonly interacts. These roles vary among the Nenets, Enets, and Selkup shamans.[91][92]

The assistant of an Oroqen shaman (called jardalanin, or "second spirit") knows many things about the associated beliefs. He or she accompanies the rituals and interprets the behaviors of the shaman.[93] Despite these functions, the jardalanin is not a shaman. For this interpretative assistant, it would be unwelcome to fall into a trance.[94]

Among the Tucano people, a sophisticated system exists for environmental resources management and for avoiding resource depletion through overhunting. This system is conceptualized mythologically and symbolically by the belief that breaking hunting restrictions may cause illness. As the primary teacher of tribal symbolism, the shaman may have a leading role in this ecological management, actively restricting hunting and fishing. The shaman is able to "release" game animals, or their souls, from their hidden abodes.[95][96] The Piaroa people have ecological concerns related to shamanism.[97] Among the Inuit the angakkuq (shamans) fetch the souls of game from remote places,[98][99] or soul travel to ask for game from mythological beings like the Sea Woman.[100]

The way shamans get sustenance and take part in everyday life varies across cultures. In many Inuit groups, they provide services for the community and get a "due payment",[who?] and believe the payment is given to the helping spirits.[101] An account states that the gifts and payments that a shaman receives are given by his partner spirit. Since it obliges the shaman to use his gift and to work regularly in this capacity, the spirit rewards him with the goods that it receives.[102] These goods, however, are only "welcome addenda". They are not enough to enable a full-time shaman. Shamans live like any other member of the group, as a hunter or housewife. Due to the popularity of ayahuasca tourism in South America, there are practitioners in areas frequented by backpackers who make a living from leading ceremonies.[103][101]

There are two major frameworks among cognitive and evolutionary scientists for explaining shamanism. The first, proposed by anthropologist Michael Winkelman, is known as the "neurotheological theory".[104][105] According to Winkelman, shamanism develops reliably in human societies because it provides valuable benefits to the practitioner, their group, and individual clients. In particular, the trance states induced by dancing, hallucinogens, and other triggers are hypothesized to have an "integrative" effect on cognition, allowing communication among mental systems that specialize in theory of mind, social intelligence, and natural history.[106] With this cognitive integration, the shaman can better predict the movement of animals, resolve group conflicts, plan migrations, and provide other useful services.

The neurotheological theory contrasts with the "by-product" or "subjective" model of shamanism developed by Harvard anthropologist Manvir Singh.[1][107][108] According to Singh, shamanism is a cultural technology that adapts to (or hacks) our psychological biases to convince us that a specialist can influence important but uncontrollable outcomes.[109] Citing work on the psychology of magic and superstition, Singh argues that humans search for ways of influencing uncertain events, such as healing illness, controlling rain, or attracting animals. As specialists compete to help their clients control these outcomes, they drive the evolution of psychologically compelling magic, producing traditions adapted to people's cognitive biases.Shamanism, Singh argues, is the culmination of this cultural evolutionary processa psychologically appealing method for controlling uncertainty. For example, some shamanic practices exploit our intuitions about humanness: Practitioners use trance and dramatic initiations to seemingly become entities distinct from normal humans and thus more apparently capable of interacting with the invisible forces believed to oversee important outcomes. Influential cognitive and anthropological scientists such as Pascal Boyer and Nicholas Humphrey have endorsed Singh's approach,[110][111] although other researchers have criticized Singh's dismissal of individual- and group-level benefits.[112]

David Lewis-Williams explains the origins of shamanic practice, and some of its precise forms, through aspects of human consciousness evinced in cave art and LSD experiments alike.[113]

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff relates these concepts to developments in the ways that modern science (systems theory, ecology, new approaches in anthropology and archeology) treats causality in a less linear fashion.[95] He also suggests a cooperation of modern science and indigenous lore.[114]

Shamanic practices may originate as early as the Paleolithic, predating all organized religions,[115][116] and certainly as early as the Neolithic period.[116] The earliest known undisputed burial of a shaman (and by extension the earliest undisputed evidence of shamans and shamanic practices) dates back to the early Upper Paleolithic era (c. 30,000 BP) in what is now the Czech Republic.[117]

Sanskrit scholar and comparative mythologist Michael Witzel proposes that all of the world's mythologies, and also the concepts and practices of shamans, can be traced to the migrations of two prehistoric populations: the "Gondwana" type (of circa 65,000 years ago) and the "Laurasian" type (of circa 40,000 years ago).[118]

In November 2008, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced the discovery of a 12,000-year-old site in Israel that is perceived as one of the earliest-known shaman burials. The elderly woman had been arranged on her side, with her legs apart and folded inward at the knee. Ten large stones were placed on the head, pelvis, and arms. Among her unusual grave goods were 50 complete tortoise shells, a human foot, and certain body parts from animals such as a cow tail and eagle wings. Other animal remains came from a boar, leopard, and two martens. "It seems that the woman was perceived as being in a close relationship with these animal spirits", researchers noted. The grave was one of at least 28 graves at the site, located in a cave in lower Galilee and belonging to the Natufian culture, but is said to be unlike any other among the Epipaleolithic Natufians or in the Paleolithic period.[119]

A debated etymology of the word "shaman" is "one who knows",[11][120] implying, among other things, that the shaman is an expert in keeping together the multiple codes of the society, and that to be effective, shamans must maintain a comprehensive view in their mind which gives them certainty of knowledge.[10] According to this view, the shaman uses (and the audience understands) multiple codes, expressing meanings in many ways: verbally, musically, artistically, and in dance. Meanings may be manifested in objects such as amulets.[120] If the shaman knows the culture of their community well,[80][121][122] and acts accordingly, their audience will know the used symbols and meanings and therefore trust the shamanic worker.[122][123]

There are also semiotic, theoretical approaches to shamanism,[124][125][126] and examples of "mutually opposing symbols" in academic studies of Siberian lore, distinguishing a "white" shaman who contacts sky spirits for good aims by day, from a "black" shaman who contacts evil spirits for bad aims by night.[127] (Series of such opposing symbols referred to a world-view behind them. Analogously to the way grammar arranges words to express meanings and convey a world, also this formed a cognitive map).[10][128] Shaman's lore is rooted in the folklore of the community, which provides a "mythological mental map".[129][130] Juha Pentikinen uses the concept "grammar of mind".[130][131]

Armin Geertz coined and introduced the hermeneutics,[132] or "ethnohermeneutics",[128] interpretation. Hoppl extended the term to include not only the interpretation of oral and written texts, but that of "visual texts as well (including motions, gestures and more complex rituals, and ceremonies performed, for instance, by shamans)".[133] Revealing the animistic views in shamanism, but also their relevance to the contemporary world, where ecological problems have validated paradigms of balance and protection.[130]

Traditional, Indigenous shamanism is believed to be declining around the world. Whalers who frequently interacted with Inuit groups are one source of this decline in that region.[134]

In many areas, former shamans ceased to fulfill the functions in the community they used to, as they felt mocked by their own community,[137] or regarded their own past as deprecated and were unwilling to talk about it to ethnographers.[138]

Besides personal communications of former shamans, folklore texts may narrate directly about a deterioration process. For example, a Buryat epic text details the wonderful deeds of the ancient "first shaman" Kara-Grgn:[139] he could even compete with God, create life, steal back the soul of the sick from God without his consent. A subsequent text laments that shamans of older times were stronger, possessing capabilities like omnividence,[140] fortune-telling even for decades in the future, moving as fast as a bullet.[141]

In most affected areas, shamanic practices ceased to exist, with authentic shamans dying and their personal experiences dying with them. The loss of memories is not always lessened by the fact the shaman is not always the only person in a community who knows the beliefs and motives related to the local shaman-hood.[93][94] Although the shaman is often believed and trusted precisely because they "accommodate" to the beliefs of the community,[122] several parts of the knowledge related to the local shamanhood consist of personal experiences of the shaman, or root in their family life,[142] thus, those are lost with their death. Besides that, in many cultures, the entire traditional belief system has become endangered (often together with a partial or total language shift), with the other people of the community remembering the associated beliefs and practices (or the language at all) grew old or died, many folklore memories songs, and texts were forgottenwhich may threaten even such peoples who could preserve their isolation until the middle of the 20th century, like the Nganasan.[143]

Some areas could enjoy a prolonged resistance due to their remoteness.

After exemplifying the general decline even in the most remote areas, there are revitalizations or tradition-preserving efforts as a response. Besides collecting the memories,[148] there are also tradition-preserving[149] and even revitalization efforts,[150] led by authentic former shamans (for example among the Sakha people[151] and Tuvans).[136]

Native Americans in the United States do not call their traditional spiritual ways "shamanism". However, according to Richard L. Allen, research and policy analyst for the Cherokee Nation, they are regularly overwhelmed with inquiries by and about fraudulent shamans, aka ("plastic medicine people").[152] He adds, "One may assume that anyone claiming to be a Cherokee 'shaman, spiritual healer, or pipe-carrier', is equivalent to a modern day medicine show and snake-oil vendor."[153]

There are also neoshamanistic movements, which usually differ from traditional shamanistic practice and beliefs in significant ways, and often have more connection to the New Age communities than traditional cultures.[154]

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Mumbai: Is cheque cloning the new con in town? – mid-day.com

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Dadar bizwoman says over Rs 47,000 was withdrawn from her account using a cheque even though she had never issued a single leaf

Hutoxi Panthaki, a businesswoman

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A businesswoman from Dadar received an SMS from HDFC Bank on Wednesday evening, informing her that over Rs 47,000 had been debited from her current account through cheque. Unlike other text messages from her bank, this bewildered her, as she had not issued any cheque. Hutoxi Panthaki checked her chequebook and found all the leaves intact.

She suspect that someone not only cloned her cheque, but also forged her signature. "I rushed to the bank the next day. The staff there initially insisted that I must have issued the cheque in the name of Mithon Kumar. The bank staff was convinced only after I showed them the blank leaves of my chequebook," she told mid-day.

Also Read: Heavy deposit flats: New modus of fraudsters in Mumbai

The bank staff showed her the copy of the issued cheque on laptop, she said. "They told me that they had found out where the cheque was deposited, so there was no need for me to file a police complaint." The bank in whose branch the money was deposited has credited R47,201 back to her account.

A spokesperson of the HDFC Bank told mid-day, "A physical cheque was presented under Cheque Truncation System to another bank... We will go to the police after some verification, and have also asked Panthaki to file a police complaint."

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