Ah, that deceit should

Steal such gentle shape;

And with a virtuos visor,

Hide deep vice!

— Shakespeare, Richard 111,2

DECEIT can really show a gentle shape and, with great virtue, hide deep vice. In other words, that are not Elizabethan in nature but more in tune with the vernacular of the common man; you got a six for a nine; you got scammed.

Scamming has surpassed the other older, more boring crimes that we are used to. You have to admit, some of those scammers are really creative.

It’s not that new though, for duping people has been around for a long time, but certainly it has taken on a life of its own and is centre stage as far as crimes go. Suddenly everyone is a scammer, or someone you know has been a victim of scamming, although many victims are so ashamed that they keep it secret.

Whatever the case may be, the terms scamming, scammer, scammed, have all been entrenched in our vocabulary nowadays. It has even entered into our school system.

Can you just imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when a coach from a prominent rural high school admitted on TV that he lost a large number of his track team to scamming. No, they were not victims of scamming, but had actually abandoned school to become scammers.

“They don’t come to classes or training, and some of them have even quit school. They’re good boys too,” he said.

That’s how pervasive scamming has become, that even schoolboys have hopped off education and jumped onto the lucrative pastime of duping people out of their money. Even employers are finding it difficult to hire new staff as they have to compete with scamming being a viable alternative to working full-time.

Scamming, that’s where we’ll go today, right after we see what these readers had to say about my dissertation on ‘Women on top’.

Hey Tony,

I have heard people of colour saying that they have had to work twice as hard than their Caucasian counterparts to prove their worth in the workplace. That being said, women in general are in the same predicament, having to work twice as hard as their male counterparts. Yes, men who must ask their wife’s permission may not seem to be on top, but men who discuss things with their wife may just be respectful of their equal partner during important discussions. Personally, I like the woman on top.

Mark

Teerob,

I say no to women being on top. The Lord made man to rule and women to be submissive. Even the wedding vows say that the woman must submit to her husband. Women have their place, yes, and must be respected, but to put them on top to rule over men is a crazy and dangerous thing. Look what all the feminist movements have done: brought nothing but unhappiness and division to many women, leaving them unmanable. Yes, unmanable, without men.

Tyrone

I’m sure that many of you have seen those requests on the Internet that offer you lots of money if you perform certain tasks such as sending your bank details or credit card information to them. Many of them come from Nigeria where some widow has “inherited lots of money” and wants you to help her to get it out of the country because she’s being held under duress.

“Just send your bank information and I’ll deposit the money to your account. Await further instruction.”

Of course, those further instructions include requesting that you send them a clearance fee to have the money disbursed.

Others declare that you’ve won lots of money in a lottery that you bought no ticket for, and you’re to send money to process the funds and handling fees. Many of us take these scams with a grain, if not pound of salt, and think that they’re downright ridiculous as we laugh, scoff, deride them for their absurdity and for the con that they are. But does everyone take that stance?

The fact is, if they weren’t lucrative they wouldn’t be so prevalent and people wouldn’t fall for them so frequently. Remember, scammers are extremely creative and patient.

These scammers are like fishermen who throw out many lines, and for every hundred lines that they throw out, if 10 fish take the bait, they are happy. They know that most people will not fall for the scam, but the few who do make their enterprise a successful one.

It was PT Barnum, famous American businessman and circus owner, who said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” A sucker, of course, being a person who is gullible and easily fooled, conned, duped, scammed — an easy mark.

You’d think that supposedly intelligent people would be above being scammed but that’s so far from the truth, as was brought to my attention a few weeks ago.

Someone who I know told me that her friend met a man online and was having some sort of Internet relationship. Well, the man promised to send her a package by mail containing an iPhone, jewellery and £30,000 in cash. Say what? A gift of that magnitude from someone who she’s been chatting with on social media but never met in person, never touched, never kissed, never had sex with, but promised to send her all that?

All she had to do was to pay the duty of $50,000 to a third party to clear customs. This was to be paid at the International Airport, Jamaica. There were so many red flags fluttering, yet the lady was falling for it.

What’s wrong with that picture? A man who she never met in person is doing all this for her? What’s the catch? “Just borrow the money to pay the duty,” was what he told her. Wouldn’t it make more sense to deduct the money that he promised to send her, then pay the duty?

Luckily the scammer was an idiotic amateur who didn’t even know the name of our airport but he almost succeeded, for the intended victim almost fell for the ruse — hook, line and sinker — until her savvy sister told her that it was an obvious scam.

Interestingly, she at first resisted and told her sister that the man was legit as they had been corresponding for a while, but eventually good sense prevailed. She was the one who got away, but others were not so fortunate and got scammed out of their hard-earned money.

What’s really sad is that some of those victims being scammed will actually berate anyone who tries to talk them out of it.

“Go away! Is just because yu grudge me and bad mind me why you saying bad things about my foreign man.”

I can understand it when those old Americans get scammed, because they are lonely and in need of companionship. Those scammers who are highly skilled provide comfort, friendship, build up a relationship of trust, then encourage them to send money.

So persuasive are these scammers that the victims will even curse their family members who try to warn them.

“He’s my friend and he means me well, let me send him my money.”

It’s an art form that has duped hundreds of Americans out of hundreds of thousands of US dollars, with some even losing their life’s savings and houses. It’s estimated that scamming took in over US$300 million to Jamaica in one calendar year, and yet they say crime does not pay. If you see the lifestyle of some of these scammers you would not agree with that statement.

But it pays in another way too as loss of life is also a by-product of scamming. Those scammers are ruthless when it comes to protecting their ill-gotten gains, and will snuff out the lives of countless people — including friends and family — as they fight over their loot.

The world of scamming is a dangerous place, and law enforcement here and overseas come down hard on them when they get caught. But still, it’s surprising how many people are downright gullible as they continue to get scammed in a most laughable way.

Like this lady who was approached by a complete stranger outside of a bank who proceeded to tell her that he had a little problem. He explained that he had a cheque to be cashed but his account had become dormant, so could she deposit it to her account then withdraw a certain amount, leaving back a few thousand dollars for her kindness as a little thank you gesture.

So the woman did just that, and of course the cheque was no good and she lost all of her money. Many people would have no sympathy for her, and who could blame them? But remember what PT Barnum said? Every day a sucker is born.

Scamming is here to stay as its success is rooted in greed, ignorance and stupidity. People will still send money to strangers in foreign lands; people will still buy property unseen, only to discover that it’s already owned by someone else; people will still get involved in Ponzi schemes even though countless others have lost millions of dollars over the years.

They merely re-merge under a different guise and profess to be different and foolproof, and dupe the ignorant. Oh yes, every day an idiot is born and the scammers laugh. But what can we expect? Anancy the spiderman is our folk hero, and he was the biggest scammer of all.

More time.

seido1yard@gmail.com

Footnote: This tiefing business has taken on a new dimension and almost every day we hear of some new heist, perpetrated mostly by women. So much so that psychologists are examining this rising phenomenon of female filchers. What’s really behind this female upsurge in stealing?

On another note, I visited Hellshire Beach last weekend and could not believe the level of erosion that has taken place. There’s almost no beach left, but the seafood is still extraordinarily delicious.