Stealing does not pay

Dear Editor,

Not long ago, the act of duping people in the Ghanaian society got a new name: ‘Sakawa’. Without knowing where the name came from, suspected criminals hid behind their computers and stole cash from innocent victims.

No matter what name one will give to the act of deceit, trick, and stealing, the illegal act to gain favours in several ways has been with man since the creation of the world.

The simple explanation is that the act of stealing, deceiving or tricking someone to get favours is sophisticated in our time, and suspects keep changing their tactics every minute their styles are exposed.

As their tricks are exposed, suspected criminals change their style from stealing people via the internet to using the phone to tell lies to their victims in foreign countries to win favours.

The criminals formulate more lies, roping in influential personalities such as ministers, politician’s, philanthropists, celebrities, chiefs, security commanders, district chief executives, pastors, among others.

Some Ghanaians blame it on poor living conditions, forcing energetic and industrious youth to employ such tactics in order to ‘survive.’

When it comes to ‘Sakawa’, there are more scenarios or stories relating to people in Ghana making deceitful statements and telephone calls to dupe their relatives abroad.

The story is told of a suspect, who duped his uncle when he lied about suffering from life threatening condition, and needed money to settle his medical bills.

A woman was also said to have connived with a private school proprietor to sack her children from school for non-payment of school fees. The plot was to get her husband who lives abroad to send huge sums of money but she was exposed by a private investigator.

Another young man employed similar trick when he told his uncle that he was running a profitable business in Accra and needed money to expand operations.

The uncle was said to have returned to Ghana to inquire about the business only to be told that the “kiosk had been demolished by city guards.”

Many people devise various strategies to outwit their victims with the excuse that the economic situatuons are becoming unbearable. Some good-hearted people, out of pity, end up losing huge money as they fall for the trick.

But it is time we continued educating the young ones that there is no shortcut to creating wealth, and that it takes the fear of God, humility, patience, quality education and hard work to become rich.

Making deceitful statements to make money is not worth it and there is no blessing for doing that and those who indulge in this practice must advise themselves.

Stephen Quaye,

Dansoman, Accra.