Scammers And The Vulnerable

 

There are suggestions from some quarters that those who allow themselves to be scammed should be examined for underlying mental defects.

It may sound outrageous but what can we say under the circumstances where there are still so many persons in this country, who are susceptible to the trickeries of such persons.

It stands to reason that should a rebranded Pyram spring up in this country once more, many would queue at the facades of their offices to deposit monies for the Ponzi scheme.

Ponzi schemes have come in different forms to dupe people, the intervention of the relevant agencies with appropriate warnings about the inherent dangers, notwithstanding.

In some instances, highly placed persons in society are appealed to convincingly by the sugar-coated words of assigns of such schemes.

As we compose this commentary, some persons are biting their fingers having parted with their hard-earned savings because, they are convinced that these would be doubled or even tripled.

Coming from all over the country for the crusade-like money doubling activity, speaks about the statistics of vulnerability of our compatriots to such scams.

These days the scams come in varying shapes. From mobile phone calls to the formation of WhatsApp groups, and the inclusion of persons who know nothing about the objective of the platforms, they are all over the place.

With greed overwhelming many, there is no shortage of victims for the fraudsters. Sadly, the hallowed name of God is sometimes associated with structures some of them set up and called churches.

With the freedom of religion and association prevailing and against the backdrop of ignorance, the vulnerable will continue to be fleeced by their smarter aggressors.

The daily occurrences about scams which find space in the media should serve as lessons for the vulnerable to learn from.

Unfortunately, however, with the mutating trickeries in the arsenals of the scammers and equal number of the vulnerable, we live to do more commentaries on this subject, it would appear.

We demand expedited awareness creation programmes by churches and other faith centres including the National Commission For Civic Education (NCCE), to educate people about the heightened incidence of scams so that the vulnerable can be saved from the scammers.

For those with sufficient evidence against them of course, the law should take its course. The tendency for so-called celebrities to feel special in society should be stemmed. After all, the law is no respecter of persons and those who breach it must face it so the deterrence to obviate future recurrence.