White collar crime definitely hurts

It is a sad comment on the state of mankind that people in this day and age need to be told to be less trusting and more cynical and sceptical.

Not a day goes by without one hearing of some innocent – perhaps naïve – person being the victim of a scam that has taken their hard-earned money.

Society rightly condemns violent crime and is especially revolted when victims such as children and the elderly are targeted by cruel criminals.

Those who shoot, stab, rape and assault others are rightly condemned in the harshest terms.

But white collar criminals also inflict a huge amount of hurt.

Whoever says ‘crime doesn’t pay’ has not been the victim of a confidence trickster

Besides being relieved of their cash, and the financial burden this poses, victims also feel embarrassed and even stupid to have fallen for something that in retrospect is so obviously a trap.

However, it’s easier to be ‘mugged’ by smooth talkers than one imagines.

This newspaper in the past week reported on a number of widely differing stories of people falling for some or other false promise or unrealistic benefit.

Invariably, after the story is told, it seems so obvious there should have been ample cause for caution, but victims realise, too late, how they were swindled.

We do our best to issue ‘Beware: they’re out to get you’ warnings by reporting on these devious schemes, but the message just does not seem to hit home.

The CPFs also issue regular postings about con artists, who choose their victims well.

They look for the elderly, the uneducated, the naïve and the gullible.

They prey on the good nature of strangers; they work in teams, using partners whose faces are those of innocent children.

Oh, and they also feed on the greedy: those who want to get rich so quickly, their eyes and ears will believe anything.

It’s not just the fool and his money that are soon parted.

It’s also the greedy, the unprepared, the trusting and the unwatchful.

Please, dear readers, don’t allow yourself to become a victim.

Examine carefully any proposition put before you.

Ask questions and do background checks.

And remember: if something looks too good to be true, it generally is.