Greed and Scams Acknowledgements, Preface, Prologue

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been interesting without the many written articles by newspapermen, opinion writers and investigative journalists especially the members of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism who went through great efforts in ferrying out the truth about corruption and anomalies in the government. To appreciate the many anomalies and corruptions going on in government, I would invite those interested parties to read the full articles cited in the book by logging on to www.tag.org.ph for more details.

There are also the authors of books who willingly risk their lives to expose the con artists and corrupt public officials and how they operate. I salute them for their efforts in trying to help clean up the messy government bureaucracy that has mired the country in poverty.

Newspapers have been a source of great information. They served as watchdogs, reporting on the scams that occurred everyday in our midst to remind us that out there is a jungle where everyone is a potential victim and should be on guard.

Radio commentators have also been a source of information as they not only expose the scams being perpetuated on the ordinary citizens but even went through get length in advising their listeners how to avoid these scams.

The Internet has become an indispensable source of information for any research. No acknowledgment would be complete without it. It has made it possible to access many written articles and news stories hidden in the archive of the newspapers and other excerpts. Due to the thousands of articles I have read, and the space it will occupy, I have to omit mentioning the authors and the article and all who are offended, I sincerely apologize for my shortcomings. If I had missed out on any citations from the other sources, please accept by sincerest apology for my mistake.

Preface

GREED & SCAMS, INC. is the worldï¿½s largest corporation. It is in perpetual action taking place every second of the day and ripping off people of their hard earned money. Greed is the motivating force behind most of the scams. Many of these scams may not even be illegal, which made it difficult to spot. Con artists are extremely skilled at conning and manipulating people. They can easily adapt new ways to different situations and circumstances, and tailored to your case.

Money and greed always go hand in hand. Even for Christians, money has taken over God in their worship. It has become the greatest form of idolatry since printed money was invented. The convenience of money has brought greed to new heights. There is nothing wrong with getting rich as long as it is not done illegally or greedily. We are only stewards of Godï¿½s blessings and sharing is the key to success in this life.

As long as money is involved, expect swindlers to be out there to take whatever they can. Money is the motivating force in many of the scams. So be careful when dealing with money. Even friends are likely to perpetuate a scam if opportunity arises. Scams are especially true in a country where most of the people are poor and ordinary working people who dream of getting rich quickly. Even if the scams have been well ventilated, they are like viruses and can evolve into something else because scams never die. There are few specific laws to protect the businessmen and customers from being swindled. It is important that people should be alert at all times. Even the very people we wholeheartedly trust could one day turn out to be a swindler. No one is immune from scams and knowledge is the only way from falling into these traps.

Many of the cases you are about to read in this book happened at one time or another, and in one place or another. Most of them are just variations of the scams that have happened centuries ago. Some may sound as if it is impossible to have happened while others seem to have outlived their schemes, but believe it or not, they have a tendency to resurrect in the future when you least expected. Not all scams are criminal in nature making it difficult to spot in most cases. The most the victims can do is ask for their refund through the authority or file a civil suit in the proper forum.

The Internet has become the latest means for people to misrepresent the truth, create fantastic offers, and spread falsehoods. The most important difference between the Internet and more traditional scam methods is the speed with which would-be scam artists can spread false information to those they prey upon and the almost limitless number of people they can prey upon. It is also difficult to catch the scam artist because the con artists and the prey do not even have to come into physical contact.

One of the key elements of scams is fraud. As defined in Blackï¿½s Law Dictionary, ï¿½fraud is an intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with some valuable things belonging to him or to surrender a legal right; a false representation of a matter of fact, whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed, which deceives and is intended to deceive another so that he shall act upon it to his legal injuryï¿½ï¿½ Beware also that it is considered fraud if the consumer received what was less valuable than promised.

We are all affected by scams in one way or another. Friends and acquaintances have been known to scam each other. How many friendships have been destroyed because of money and greed is anybodyï¿½s guess. Scams could also hit us indirectly. It could mean additional cost on goods and services that would be passed to us as consumers. It is for this reason that people should be alert against those who would not hesitate to scam us for their personal gain.

The extent of how people can think up ways to scam others is infinite. The cases cited in this book are only a drop in the ocean. In fact, there is no book big enough to contain all the scams being perpetuated by greedy people. This book can be used for better or for worse. It is my intention to give the readers a birdï¿½s eye view on how the scammers operate. At the least, it should alert and forewarn the readers to some of the shenanigans their fellowmen may engineer against innocent people.

Many swindlers were able to get away with their nefarious activities because of ignorance and carelessness on the part of the victims. They failed to take precautionary measures and investigations that would have saved them the trouble of dealing with these scammers. Once the money had been swindled, it is often very difficult to regain the money back. Even if the swindler is caught, the full amount may be difficult to recover. It is for this reason that this book is written. The cases are only representatives of some of the scams that are happening every moment of everyday, somewhere in the world. No wonder, scams are called the number one crime in the world. And this book is my hope to safeguard investors from the scums of this world.

Prologue

Greed and the love of money is the oldest and greatest form of idolatry. The rich as well as the poor are not spared from this form of worship. Money is so alluring you can never trust it to anyone without suffering some form of anxiety.

Hardly a week passed by without reading some kind of scams in the newspapers. But somewhere along the line this book has to come to and end. There is no end in sight and everyone is expected to encounter one or more scams in this lifetime. It is my hope that this book would somehow mitigate the readers from being scammed. After reading this book, the readers should have many ideas on how to spot the scams should they be confronted with one. The book is not meant to list down all the scams, but to enlighten the readers to be more aware and even suspicious of people whose only motive is to take advantage of their ignorance, kindheartedness, and generosity.

Almost everyone may have experienced being conned once in their life. It may not be a large amount or they may not even notice that they have been had. Those who realized they were scammed seldom report the matter out of fear or ridiculed. Even if the swindlers were actually arrested, if is almost impossible to convict. More often than not, victims of scams are not as innocent as they are supposed to be. Many of them are just as greedy as their instigators. They also want to get rich quick, making them easy victims.

One of the greatest disappointments in writing this book is the proliferation of frauds and scams by the very people who claimed to be Christians, who are often the same people guilty of scamming their fellowmen. There is no longer fear in their hearts for what await them on judgment day. We have become a culture of dishonesty, thievery and cheating and the only way to cure the disease is for everyone not to get scammed.