Who Can You Trust? (Part 2)

Before I continue, I want to discuss some basic concepts of fraud. Fraud Aid is a fraud victim advocacy nonprofit organization. I strongly encourage you to visit their website, which discusses the subject masterfully.

From their website, I am going to quote some highlights:

      “Fraud is an insidious, sneaky crime that ruins individuals
      and families, causes corporations to go under… raises
      insurance costs, raises product costs, and produces untold
      grief at all levels of society worldwide.

      It steals food from the mouths of the hungry; it causes
      homelessness, unemployment, increases the welfare tolls
      and yes, even brings death…

      …And yet, fraud can be stopped. You and me, we can
      stop fraud.

      All it takes to stop fraud is awareness… for each and
      every person who had an experience with a scammer to
      tell a friend, a neighbor, the cashier at the grocery
      store, a cousin, a sister, a brother, a mother, a child.

      No one is immune to fraud… What is an obvious fraud
      to one sounds like an opportunity to another…

      …Working together we can make it so difficult for
      fraudsters to pander their false hopes that the numbers
      will actually begin to dwindle.

      How can that be accomplished? By ensuring that every
      incident of fraud is reported as a theft report, and
      by ensuring that every suspicion of fraud can be
      reported without fear of ridicule from those who
      should be offering support…

      Only a very small percentage of people ever report
      a fraud theft or identity theft, and so the numbers
      appear small. As long as that continues, fraudsters
      will continue to thumb their noses at law enforcement
      and at all of us.

      Fraudsters are laughing like hyenas. They laugh at
      law enforcement and they laugh at their victims. They
      will keep doing so until we, working together, turn
      their greedy joy into tears of frustration.”