'Crime does pay'

'Crime does pay'
http://www.news24.com/News24/MyNews24/Your_story/0,,2-2127-2128_2482960,00.html
10/03/2009 14:07 - (SA)

Adrian C, News24 User

I am writing this letter to all South Africans, especially those who feel they work really hard and do not achieve the financial goals they set for themselves.

Fellow citizens, take heart! I have found the answer for your worries. And the best of all: it is easy and it works! It can be summarised in one easy phrase: "Crime does pay".

Let me explain this statement at the hand of a little example. My wife was the victim of a smash-and-grab a few weeks ago. A pretend-beggar walked between the cars at the off ramp, asking for money and when the light turned green he smashed the window, put half his body into the car and grabbed the handbag.

After this, my traumatised pregnant wife did everything right: she drove off, we immediately cancelled all bank cards, opened a case at the SAPS, had the window fixed and got a temporary driver's licence.

It is funny how I always felt sorry for the beggars at intersections and even sometimes gave them money or food. My initial reaction, after the relief that my wife was OK, was that I felt sorry for this poor guy that he had to steal to make a living, and I hoped that he would be able to buy some food or whatever else he desperately needed with the cash that was in my wife's handbag.

Smart crooks

But these guys are much smarter than us. We always thought we had to work to make a living. He already knew the secret that I am about to share, namely that crime does pay.

In the days following the incident, we have received dozens of phone calls from the banks regarding the thousands of rands that have been spent on all the credit cards at dozens of stores all over the city.

These guys know what everybody should know, namely that the banks do not take the small effort to "hot list" a credit card when you take the effort of phoning them to cancel your cards.

Consequently, whoever has the card in his or her possession, can continue indefinitely to make purchases using the card, as long as the purchases remain a few hundred rands each, because nobody ever checks the signatures on the back of the cards, and the shops only check whether the card is stolen if the sale is higher than some floor limit.

Therefore, I encourage people to use this knowledge to their own gain. The banks, which were supposed to "hot list" the stolen cards, do not lose a cent through this, as they would simply not pay the shops for any purchases made with the stolen cards.

'Crime pays'

The consumer loses because shops increase stock prices to make up for these losses. The criminals (which seem to be including the banks) win again, and crime definitely does pay.

Everybody should supposed to know how easy it is to make crime also work for them. Maybe if everybody knew that the banks are the best assistants that violent criminals could ever find, there will be enough collective pressure on them to clean up their act and take the small effort of "hot listing" cards that are reported as stolen.

But for now, crime still pays.

-=-=-=

I sometimes feel incredibly bad for people who are obviously worse off than me, but when you hear about this sort of thing, then what do you do.

I feel sick and bad that people who genuienly want a sandwich because they are starving will now have to pay the price for those fuckers who abuse the situation.

I don't know how to proceed. Some days I still give, and some days I don't. I just hope I have the discernment to get it right most of the time...