HOW TO PREVENT SCAMS

HOW TO PREVENT SCAMS

Ancient Wisdom – A Mulla Nasrudin Story

By

VIKRAM KARVE


First you allow someone to loot you, give the thief enough time and opportunity to stash away his loot safely, and then, even if someone else catches the thief, you let the scamster get away scot free.  You do nothing about it though you know the scam is happening - you don't try to prevent the ongoing scam nor do you do anything to try and deter future scams.   


Then, when there is a lot of noise and hype because the scam is “discovered” by the media, or someone files a PIL and a court directs investigation, you order a “probe” into the scam, and this probe goes on and on for a long long time till there emerges another scam and everyone loses interest in the earlier scam.


Though we keep mouthing platitudes about “zero tolerance to corruption” in theory, in actual practice the corrupt are flourishing and most of them seem to be getting away scot-free and there hardly seems to be any deterrent punishment for corruption for economic offences like there is for criminal offences. There seems to be no serious effort at putting in place effective systems to prevent scams either.

It is truly a matter of intrigue as to why so many scams are being allowed to happen. Everyone knows that a scam is happening but they turn a blind eye and do nothing about it. And much later, when everything is over, they suddenly decide to investigate and go into overdrive, but unfortunately, it is too late. Thereafter cases linger on and on and honest people lose faith in the system as most scamsters are never brought to book and seem to be let off the hook and go scot-free and this emboldens budding scamsters to commit more and more scams as they are convinced that nothing will happen to them and they will never be punished for the scams they commit. This is happening with alarming regularity in so many cases. It seems that people are losing faith in the saying “honesty is the best policy” and anyone who follows this adage is a fool and a simpleton.

We have all learnt the simple adage in school: “Prevention is better than cure”.

Isn’t it better to take care that a scam does not happen than to run around in circles trying to cover up things when it is too late. Isn’t it easier to stop a scam from happening in the first place rather than try to fix the damage after the scam has happened which, more often than not, becomes a futile exercise.

Well, here is some ancient wisdom – one of my favourite Mulla Nasrudin stories which exemplifies implementation of the famous idiom – PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE.

Mulla Nasrudin called a small boy and told him to get water from the well.

While giving the small boy an earthenware pot to get the water, Mulla Nasrudin looked into the eyes of the small boy and told the boy, “Make sure you don’t break the pot,” and then suddenly Mulla Nasrudin gave the small boy a tight slap on his face.

A shocked spectator asked Nasrudin, "Why did you hit the boy? How can you punish someone who hasn’t done anything wrong?"

“Because, you fool,” said Nasrudin, “what is the point of punishing the boy after he broke the pot...? ”

Moral of the Story

PREVENTIVE ACTION IS ALWAYS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN CORRECTIVE ACTION

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. 

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

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© vikram karve., all rights reserved.