Dear Floriano,
The narration of how you collaborated with the cops to get a conman, posing
as a loan agent, arrested was heartwarming. Power to you and your party on
this initiative. So many Goans have been conned over the years by smooth
fly-by-night operators that it is a crying shame. The Economic Offences
Cell specially set up by the Government has not made any dent into their
activities.
In the early 90's we had the Finance Companies, mostly involving
plantations, that took people for a ride. Unbelievably high rates of
interest were offered and greedy Goans feel for the bait. Then came the
Pyramid Schemes thinly disguised as Multi Level Marketing which not only
left a lot of people poorer but also made them social pariahs as they had
got hoodwinked into conning their own friends and relatives into the
'downline' and could not explain how all their grandiose earnings were not
materializing.
There was also the infamous Maple Gold Leaf plan that didn't even last a
year. And so many other fake MLMs that allowed you to make money from first
buying into the scheme and then getting others into the scheme.
The classic case is the Magic Mattress scam in Porvorim which raked in
crores and finally left budding entrepreneurs a lakh odd poorer and with a
mattress in hand, which nobody was willing to buy for one tenth of the
price they had paid. Con scams and MLM schemes which prey on people's
medical anxieties are, in my opinion, the most loathsome of them all.
I have studied about all manners of con jobs in Goa extensively and even
collaborated with Fred in writing an exhaustive cover article on these
matters in Goa Today some few years back. But a sucker is born every moment.
Recently there was the brilliant Salient scheme where people actually
believed that they could make good money by typing a few names into an
Internet Webpage everyday. The enterprising even took multiple accounts and
purchased computers and hired people to do the typing. And when the smart
con men just closed office and ran away with crores a lot of people were
red eyed - and red-faced. Till date some of them still foolishly believe
they will get their money back.
Reports of conmen posing as recruitment agents appear almost every week in
the papers. But still there are no lack of takers when the same modus
operandi is used by the next conman. How foolish can one get?
The basic thing to remember is that a con scheme works on basic human
greed. We always want more for less. The con man spins that greed into his
earning. There is no substitute for hard work. There is no instant money.
There is no free meal. When will our people learn.
If anyone approaches you with a seemingly unbelievable good offer where you
will rake in big money for doing very little work then seek sane advice
before greedily plunging in. Sting operations like Floriano's are one, very
much needed, part of the offensive against conmen. We also have to educate
the gullible about how con schemes work and what to watch out for.
Perhaps a sort of unofficial Vigilance Cell could be set up by a committee
of concerned citizens that will allow people to phone in with reports of
any con scheme going on. Proper cross-indexed records should be maintained.
The same number could also be used by the public in case they are doubtful
of the authenticity of any scheme they have been offered, and want proper
information.
Cheers!
Cecil
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- [Goanet] More Sting Operations needed and vigilance Cecil Pinto
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