Like the cunning spider that ensnares flies and other insects into its web, it is the sad unfolding fairy tale of a prince who was entrapped by the beauty of a princess, but who turned out to be an evil witch.
Many people have fallen victim to crafty and cunning evil-minded spinners, who stop at nothing to amass wealth at the expense of unsuspecting clients. To some of these victims, the consequences of their lives’ situation have been very tragic and crippling.
Money is a minted personality. People work for it day and night. Money does not grow on trees. It is hard to obtain, and must be justly earned. It has become the source of man’s survival, happiness and fulfilment of aspirations. It is, above all, a store of value. That is why extreme care is exercised by its handlers in ensuring its safety and exponential growth and sustenance through prudent investment.
Money defines status of the individuals who adore it as the ultimate in life. Money speaks universal sense in a language all nations understand. Money therefore “answers all things” as the Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastics.
The sixth sense
Some people have even said money is the sixth sense, without which we cannot make any meaningful use of the other five senses. So, money is good. Yes, no one can deny that. But every good thing has its bad side. It has often been said, however, that the love of money is the root of all evil.
We come to the world with nothing, yet we fight for everything. In the end, leave everything and go with nothing. Is it due to lack of knowledge of how the world systems work? Is it due to greed and selfishness? Or is it simply being stupid and lack of wisdom. Are we educated enough to face the hidden vagaries of the world and its ways?
Education gives us knowledge; knowledge gives us wisdom and wisdom determines what we do or say. People with little or no wisdom are always vulnerable. One may be educated alright but devoid of wisdom. An illiterate with very little or no education can take advantage of such individuals. People can be very highly educated but remain miserably unwise, reckless and easy prey to the tricks and machinations of the artful dodgers.
Quick fortunes
Fraudsters, soothsayers, prophets/prophetess, clairvoyants, fetish priests, self-styled pastors/men of God, Mallams, herbalists, just name them, in their bid to make quick fortunes play on the greed, ignorance, insatiable desires and sublime cupidity of people of all classes and status levels in society to swindle, dupe, hoodwink and rob them out of their senses, their hard-earned fortunes over several years of toil and sweat.
They always seem to get away with impunity to continue to operate as and when they choose to. In very few instances, when they have been stopped in their tracks, they re-surface elsewhere in a sophisticated demonstration of coordinated trickery to establish new insidious companies which turn out to be more deadly equivocators.
How people who have struggled overtime, immeasurable, to acquire some appreciable fortunes can be so disdainful of the dangers that these fraudsters pose to the public from time is still mind boggling and sad.
Financial publicity
Over the years, several of such financial organisations and self-styled money conjurers have been allowed to ply their trade openly on Radio, TV and in the print media and of late on social media platforms in the full glare of the country’s security and other such responsible institutions like the NIB, EOCO, CID, the Ministry of Finance which is responsible for the nations fiscal policies, and even the Central Bank which is also responsible for the nations monetary policies.
They have all looked on unconcerned until matters reach catastrophic consequences. Like the bull in the China shop, they always come in to lock the stable after the horses have bolted.
The promise of incredibly high interest rates by the fake financial companies on deposits, fake prophets, apostles and fetish priests who promise cash doubling and unbelievable multiplication and other such insidious mouth-watering prospects for their unsuspecting but excited victims are everyday occurrences on the country’s media space without let or hindrance.
As a result of the relaxation of the laws, they exploit every money-making opportunity to swindle thousands of innocent but greedy individuals. They often present themselves as genial ‘father Christmas’ dispensations, ostensibly for the public good. We have long and repeatedly been witnesses to these serial money doubling rites by witch doctors, pastors, fake church overseers and self-acclaimed prophets, bishops, foreign financial enterprises.
Patronage
Unbelievably, they receive patronage of people from all walks of life. Clientele transcends all manner of people in high positions and status in society. They include clergymen, parliamentarians, civil servants, petty traders, students, business tycoons, the judiciary, lecturers, medical doctors, teachers, nurses and even bankers. There are also those of them who do not spare even the sick and other depraved individuals of the society. Several fatalities have been reported in instances where some aggrieved victims attempted to recover their huge deposits from the fraudsters.
It is common knowledge that in almost every such reported case of fraud, the very few of these evil men/women that the law enforcement agencies are able to apprehend manage to wriggle themselves out. A case in point is the infamous case of NAM1 and many others involving even church owners, fetish priests and pastors of all shades and colours.
In the early 90s, some of these schemers defrauded more than fifty thousand people in the country. They were called PIRAM Financial Company. Then again in the year 2000, more people fell victim to some other groups. Large sums of money were lost, and some of the victims, it is alleged, lost their lives through shock, nervous breakdown and heart attack.
Criminal gangs
The criminal financial gangs know what they are doing and the consequences of their nefarious operations. They are always over prepared to face the state as far as the law is concerned. They are very conversant with all the weaknesses in the law and the nation’s administrative system and exploit them to frustrate their victims.
African leaders, Ghana is not exception, are to blame partially if not wholly for the gambling mentality of its citizens. Poor management of the economy, unbridled and unpunished corruption, greed, selfishness and the tendency to always manipulate constitutions to entrench themselves in power instead of seeking positive and viable ways to develop their countries and the well-being of their people have been the bane of the nation’s development and misery.
The law enforcement entities must be up and doing to save our people from the tricks of these vampires. People in the final analysis must be circumspect and modest in their quest for the things of the world.
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