Don’t get hoodwinked
Chandra Prakash Singh,
Suva
People should be intelligent enough to understand the motives of those few people who obtain money with false promises either in person or through online advertisements. Despite warnings by Consumer Council, Fiji Commerce Commission and Fiji Police Force, a few people still get hoodwinked and end up losing their hard earned cash within a few minutes.
Purchasing certain goods on-line, promises of fixing lucrative jobs locally/overseas, arranging visitors/migration visas, building a house and providing a taxi plate are few incidents that can lure people in making advance payments. People should not easily get swayed, and blindly agree to promises made by sweet talkers who are smart enough to trap you but have nothing positive to offer. As grown ups make an effort to judge such people who come to you with false promises and want to create miracles when their own life is full of thorns. One thing you should always consider is; it takes a lot of time and effort to earn money and to lose a large amount of cash to unfaithful people with ulterior motives can be really painful. Always keep in mind that before making a decision about any matter; think twice, don’t respond instantly and act wisely. It would also be in your advantage when approached by strangers or reading certain advertisements online to seek clarification from relevant authorities who protect consumer rights.
People with sinister motives will do everything possible to influence and manipulate us. Their ultimate aim is to make quick money without much effort. People should also not feel greedy and start dreaming that dealing with such people with quick fix to difficulties, make you rich and life will become full of roses. Through media, adequate information is provided and people should pay particular attention to such precautionary messages. Do not later on say you could not understand or did not know that the person would be so dishonest.
Then, it will be too late to correct your mistake. When under false promises people take money at times it becomes rather difficult to recover that amount even when such people are caught by law enforcement agencies. Sometimes it takes months to locate such people because they can change their location, use a different name, spent all the money and declare as bankrupt. Just hearing one incident of such nature should be sufficient enough to make your ears stand, emergency bell to start ringing and be alert at all times.