Be vigilant

As much as you may be an introvert or prefer to keep to yourself, try to pay attention to the conversations happening around your environment or department once in a while.

I’m not very active in my class group chat, I only skim through it occasionally. One day, I came across a post exposing a student who was known for scamming and stealing from other students. To my surprise, it turned out to be my neighbour in the apartment I had just moved into. He had realised we were in the same department, though he was a level above me, and tried to befriend me.

After reading about his past and ongoing crimes, I quietly avoided him. Imagine if I hadn’t checked the group chat that day, I might have ended up being seen as “the friend of a criminal.”