Imagine if, right now, Phishing became legal worldwide. Any individual, organisation or government could legally try to gain access to your personal information using faux websites, fake emails and other social engineering techniques.
Would we see a rise in phishing?
I’d wager not. The main barrier in the way of phishers is not the law. The law does nothing and can do nothing to stop them.
The police in the victim’s country does not have the power to press charges against aa scammer thousands of kilometres away.
The police in the scammer’s country usually have better things to do then hunt down non-violent criminals who, behind locked doors, are swindling foreign nationals.
The problem is too big and the solutions too hard.
If the police and government are not going to protect you, you need to protect yourself.
In my dealings with con artists, police and victims, the number one obstacle I come across is people’s reculance to talk about their experiences.
Police are tight lipped about the cases they’ve work on for risk of affecting the outcome of a trial.
Con artists are, not suprisingly, less than forward with their techniques.
And the victims of crime are often too embarrassed to come forward and report crimes. Even fewer tell their friends and family about their moment of gullibility.
Swindlers used to call this “putting in the fix”, doing everything possible to stop the mark from alerting the police. A hundred years ago, Victor Lustig sold the Eiffel tower twice because his first victim failed to raise the alarm on the scam.
Even worse, many people I speak with are incredulous as to how victims could be so stupid/gullible/greed to be taken advantage of.
What we need is a ’scamnesty’, a chance for victims to tell their stories, report crimes and feel that’s ok to be scammed. It’s the only way others will learn.
“There is no such thing as Cotswold Cider. There never was, Cider fruit is not grown in the Cotswolds; it never had been and it is doubtful it ever will. Cotswold Cider was an invention. It was invented in Wandsworth Prison by a man who knew the value of a name, and paid more attention to alliteration and the sound of things then he did to the truth of them.”
- Frank James White aka Eustace Hamilton Ian Stewart-Hargraves
Coney Island, New York’s home of carnies, sideshow and fairy floss, has performed a fantastic swindle on the national media.
Reports came out of the boardwork amusement precint of a 140 year old fossilised hot dog. The hot dog had supposedly been frozen in ice below a restaurant for more than a century.
However, the hot dog was little more than a fantastic hoax.
