As the flow of information improves from the areas most affected by the passage of Hurricane Melissa, it is heartening that individuals are more and more getting the opportunity to reconnect with loved ones previously cut off.

We hear of the challenges occasioned by damage to the local telecommunications network, and our Tuesday edition carried a story on the assistance Starlink technology has been able to offer.

With fears being allayed of the worse having happened for some, the hearts and minds of these same victims now have to contend with the fake aid advertisements and ‘click for help’ posts that threaten to rob them of what little peace of mind they have left.

That fellow Jamaicans would, at such a time as this, use their creative aptitude to mislead, cheat, or scam those already suffering great loss makes them sheer evil.

A growing number of organisations have been forced to put out advisories to combat the fake posts circulating on the digital platforms. Not least of them have been Jamaica Public Service Company Limited and various ministries, departments and agencies of the Government.

Just as the country peered through its window to assess the destruction in the wake of the Category 5 system came a most mischievous post about electricity restoration, no doubt aimed at obfuscation.

The well-thinking among us continue to wonder what thrill and/or benefit can be derived from such rascality.

The online space was flooded with videos and images of destruction and terror which occurred elsewhere and at other times, which was circulated by the unsuspecting. Such is the misuse of our advancements in technology by miscreants.

The latest is the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s push to delegitimise what it termed “the unauthorised and fraudulent use of video images of Minister Pearnel Charles Jr” on TikTok. The particular material for the post related to the overseas employment programme, popularly known as the farm work programme.

These scum of the earth have targeted the people already weakened by the experience of the hurricane looking for a prayer or glimmer of hope. This level of exploitation measures at the lowest level of humanity.

Any attempt to fleece the desperate of their last morsel, further setting them back as they grapple with the hand they have been dealt, should be met with the long arm of the law.

The nation’s cybercrime apparatus should shine a light on this malfeasance with a view to name, shame, catch, and incarcerate them.

Efforts ought to be made to update and amend the Disaster Risk Management Act to include harsh penalties for these swindlers in a time of devastation. The sanctions should go further than pecuniary charges and include custodial sentences.

The message must be sent clearly that kicking a man while he is down makes you the lowest common denominator and should result in your separation from good society for rehabilitation.

And those among us who are aware of the actions of these vermin, and benefit from their misdeeds, should also be caught in the net. The mere fact that they fail to report them makes them guilty of misprison of a felony or the more colloquial guilty by association.

The national pledge calls us to a duty of care for our fellow man as a normal course of action, but moreso in time of disaster. The moral code dictates that, when such wickedness is identified that they be spat out in disgust from among us. Let us work to make that happen.