Season of scams

THE HOLY WEEK is over. Most schools have completed their graduation ceremonies. Majority of our school age youth are on vacation.

The schools that still observe the traditional school calendar will have a two-month break before they reopen in June. Those that have adopted the revised academic calendar will enjoy a four-month break since their classes will start in August.

This is the time of the year that operators of beach resorts, amusement centers, leisure parks and other similar facilities look forward to. They usually earn a substantial portion of their annual revenues during this period.

With the summer heat and looming power interruptions, people are expected to flock to air-conditioned malls for recreation, especially if they have young children. The cash registers of shops, food stalls and other outlets will ring merrily with the surge in business activities.

Although on a smaller scale compared to the holiday season, vacation time tends to induce people with disposable income to be more liberal in their spending habits. There is something in the leisurely atmosphere, which retail companies are quick to exploit, that makes it easier for family breadwinners to loosen their purse strings.

Schemes

But this is also the time of the year when investment scams, get-rich schemes and other similar frauds proliferate. Con artists do not go on vacation. Although there are no downtimes or periods of relaxation for scammers, based on past experience, it is during this period that these fraudulent activities seem to be more active.

This may partly be explained by the fact that, at these times, people are in a relaxed mood and therefore prone to be less careful in their dealings with others. Add to that the ease by which con artists are able to get in touch with their potential victims through social media and Internet-based systems that connect easily to smartphones and other modern gizmos.

Although the mechanisms or styles used by these operators have changed through the years, they all rest on one basic premise—human greed or the desire to gain profits with the least effort and at the shortest time possible. Never mind if the “investor” does not understand the transaction he is being asked to put his hard-earned money in.

To the naive or pretentious, the more sophisticated a deal sounds or is presented to him, the more attractive it becomes. And thanks to the colonial mentality that still lingers among many of our countrymen, the scam gets an easier track if the solicitation spiel is done by a Caucasian-looking person or the voice behind the TV or online advertisement has an American accent.

Warnings

The public has been repeatedly advised by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Securities and Exchange Commission about these fraudulent schemes.

Apparently, the warnings have not accomplished their objective. There are persistent reports of various forms of scams being foisted in different parts of the country, including in some rural areas that were once considered uneconomically viable for that purpose. The government regulators have to review their traditional practice of simply sending written advisories or cautionary statements about this problem to Metro Manila-based newspapers and TV networks, or when something blows out, hold a press conference.

Ratings and self-serving claims aside, the audience reach of these media facilities is quite limited. The broadsheets cater primarily to the A and B social strata. The tabloids hardly publish these items and, even if they do, their circulation is principally within Metro Manila and the adjoining areas. For the TV networks, air time limitations in their newscasts prevent them from giving sufficient information to their viewers about these schemes. On the rare occasions they are discussed extensively, they are conducted in English and aired late at night when their target audience is already asleep.

Extensive

A grassroots-based information campaign is essential to minimize the spread of investment or financial scams. While it is ideal to put an end to them, it is doubtful, given the limitations of our law enforcement processes, if this objective can be achieved.

Without meaning to denigrate the literacy capacity of the intended target audience, the salient points of these schemes should be explained in clear and simple English. Or better still, in Filipino or the dialect widely spoken in the place where the information will be published or posted.

The idea is, the message sought to be conveyed should not go above the head of their listeners or viewers. It has to be presented in a manner they can understand or relate to. In the case of written advertisements, they should be placed in local newspapers whose subscribers or readers reside in the cities or municipalities where they circulate. The cities of Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro, for example, have their own dailies or weeklies that are widely read in their areas.

A similar approach can be taken for the radio broadcast stations in the cities and municipalities outside Metro Manila. The local radio stations’ familiarity with their terrain makes them more effective in conveying messages to their listeners. The caveat for attractive investment proposals remains: If it is too good to be true, it is not true.

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