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It takes two to tango
Friday, October 30, 2009
There's been a lot of talk lately about the so-called 'scammers', a grouping of mostly young people from western Jamaica who are making a killing - in every sense of the word - by conning Americans out of millions of dollars.
According to the stories that have been carried in this and other sections of the press, these scammers dial up their unsuspecting victims, most of whom are elderly, inform them that they have been successful in a fictitious lotto and invite them to make a deposit with a view to releasing millions in prize money.
These gullible targets send the money, only to realise after waiting in vain, that they have been conned. You'd think, with all the publicity, that people would not fall for this scheme by now. But no. According to the police, it's still in its heyday.
Millions of dollars are flowing into the island, at the invitation of children as young as 10, and in the inevitable squabbling over the ill-gotten gains, the murder rate has soared and hundreds of lives have been lost.
The police, some of whom have joined the ranks of the scammers, are virtually at their wits' end as far as cracking down on this phenomenon is concerned.
For no amount of prosecution seems to be able to deter the growth of this brand of criminals.
So maybe it's time to start tackling the problem from the other side of the equation. As we understand it, the US Embassy has managed to recover and expatriate thousands of dollars to the 'victims' of the scam.
As a strict matter of law, the money belongs to them, so restitution is in order.
However, we wonder how deserving they are of the resources that are expended in the effort to have these monies returned.
After all, they're as much to blame for the murder and mayhem that attend the lotto scam as the young thieves here.
But for their participation, the lotto scam would simply not be.
Shouldn't they be made to pay a price for their simplicity, their irrational, insatiable lust for more money to hoard in their twilight years?
The resources that are being used to repatriate these monies might be better employed to programmes designed to further publicise and, by extension, dent this dangerous scam.
Surely it cannot be beyond the State to come up with the appropriate legislative framework to address this problem which has so disrupted the social fabric of the society?
What is needed is an innovative approach to the problem which acknowledges that in this unfortunate and dangerous game of greed and dishonesty, it takes two to tango.
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