Scammers steal sense of faith
WHEN three “aggressive” women accompanied by four children entered the Bird’s Nest Restaurant in Fortitude Valley last week, and claimed there was glass in their food, Brisbane restaurateur Marie Yokoyama called them out and warned others in an excellent social media post.
Unfortunately, these women are simply an example of a nasty rising social trend: scamming.
Often the cons are online and include phishing (stealing information like passwords and account details), sextortion (threatening to expose intimate images), bogus lottery “wins”, inheritance claims, selling fake concert tickets and sham romances.
The Scamwatch website (run by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission), received more than 11,000 reports in February alone.
It’s not only individuals and small businesses being targeted. In 2016, Brisbane City Council paid out more than $450,000 to scammers producing phony invoices.
Scamming has become an artform both online and in the real world.
The Bird’s Nest example is interesting because it shows not only the cost in financial terms to a small business – even one which fought back – but several other important issues.
Hair and pretend allergies are some of the other ways people seek to fleece food-based businesses, demanding compensation by way of free meals.
Others threaten a business’s reputation with a bad review (motels, hotels and restaurants etc) unless their unreasonable demands are met.
Many businesses don’t even report being scammed both for fear of personal, social and professional embarrassment and because of a potential rise in insurance premiums.
Yet, the biggest cost here isn’t money or even reputation. Scammers are undermining our faith in each other – as businesses and customers, service providers and receivers.
This then ripples out, from the individual to the family, community and even nation.
We just have to recall the Belle Gibson fiasco, where the wellness blogger pretended to have cancer and healed herself through an alternative diet. Not only did Gibson receive a lot of financial support from believers, publishing contracts and media coverage, but also emotional support.
People invested in Gibson psychologically and emotionally. They put their money where their heart lay.
People like Gibson and the scammers at the Bird’s Nest are, along with other bottom-feeders, eating away at what makes us a civil, tolerant and generous society.
Next time you lament the increase of security in shopping centres and other places, think about who’s really to blame. Even those who try to defraud self-service check-outs are contributing to this social decline.
Believing “I can get away with it” means selfishness trumps community spirit every time. It’s not the supermarkets who absorb these costs. Dishonesty is factored in at the checkout.
Before we get too upset, let’s not forget, there are some very genuine situations where people have problems with food, service, accommodation, holidays or where they might, through a GoFundMe Page, seek support from others for illness, accidents, crises, a start-up business or some other venture.
There are also those who sincerely seek a romantic relationship through social media without the intention to cheat anyone.
Likewise, there are those who post well-thought out reviews of books, eateries, motels and experiences, being sure to critique rather than simply criticise in what’s often a targeted act of revenge. The latter simply diminishes the entire enterprise of communal reviewing sites.
Nevertheless, we can’t let this kind of malignant behaviour – “the world owes me” attitude – change us. I worry sometimes it already has. We need to recognise that being a scammer isn’t exclusive to one sex, culture, age or creed. Fortunately, there are many more decent, kind and honest people out there.
The good news is, when you invest in the right people, whether through time, emotion or even money, the rewards are manifold and positively impact upon us all.
A wonderful perk that despicable scammers, with their overblown sense of entitlement, will never understand or experience.
PEOPLE LIKE THE SCAMMERS AT THE BIRD’S NEST ARE, ALONG WITH OTHER BOTTOMFEEDERS, EATING AWAY AT WHAT MAKES US A CIVIL, TOLERANT AND GENEROUS SOCIETY.