Over the past week, I watched one TV program after the other discussing the same subject. Upper middle class Egyptians giving their life savings to a person to invest it for them, then (naturally) this person disappears with their money. Different swindlers, different "victims", but same style, same strategy, and the same end result.The victims' stories had the following in common:
All perpetrators promised/gave unbelievable interest rates that are not possible even in illegal trades (drugs, arms, money laundry,.. - I sound like I am expert on the subject!!!)- All perpetrators were closely acquainted with a"STAR" of the society (politician's son, artist, soccer player, ..) who (willingly or not) provided him with a halo of trust & respect
- Some victims claimed that they did not ask (actually did not care) how this "investor" made such profits
- Others chose to believe the fairy tales they were told about smuggling cell phones, or any other product (which they knew was illegal)
- They all trusted the perpetrator because they saw wise (professors & bankers) or powerful (police & army officers) members of the community dealing with him
- They all invested obscene amounts of money that I was surprised they had in the first place, and even sold their cars and apartments to give the swindler as much money as possible (ranging from 100,000 to several millions of pounds)
- Most of them made the mistake of asking the swindler to invest any interest they made (no wonder he was able to promise such high interest rates!!!)
- None of the victims showed any remorse or regret for their ungratefulness &
thanklessness for what the initially had and unashamedly admitted that they fell for the scam because they envied others who were bragging about their high-return investment
From all the above, I declare that I don't sympathize with any of those "victims". They were not the victims of those scoundrels, but rather victims of their own greed. They are criminals cause they willingly investing in an illegal trade and they are idiots to fall for the same scam that swept Egypt back in the 90s.
When will so many Egyptians learn from history and previous mistakes?
When will so many Egyptians learn to only enjoy money that they actually worked and toiled for??
When will so many Egyptians stop leading this double life ??? One of a devoted religious & pious person on the outside, and another of a lazy greedy money-worshiper????
As for the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" who are now leading splendid lives abroad, enjoy while you can. Money will buy you a lot of comforts. But never love or happiness.
When will so many Egyptians learn from history and previous mistakes?
When will so many Egyptians learn to only enjoy money that they actually worked and toiled for??
When will so many Egyptians stop leading this double life ??? One of a devoted religious & pious person on the outside, and another of a lazy greedy money-worshiper????
As for the "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" who are now leading splendid lives abroad, enjoy while you can. Money will buy you a lot of comforts. But never love or happiness.
3 comments:
Again iam very impressed by your informative article and your precise,difficult words(at last i knew from where u get it)although i donot know the meaning of scoundlers but i get it after reading the aricle and because i have met many of them ,beleive me every one of us has a part of being greedy (fear of the future may be the main reason)i think we can work on this area bt paying our ZAKAH and religous people talk mainly from Quran( wa men youki
sho7 nafsoo),wa la-taqatello awladekom khashia amlak na7noo naorzkokom wa ayahem).wives and parents should have a role in that issue ,i really apreciate your principles,THANK YOU (You know why)
At last alqana3aha kinz la yefna)
Scoundrel ya3nee:
rascal; villain; dishonest
Bil 3arabee:
أَزْعَر , شِرِّير , شَقِيّ , نَذْل , وَضِيع , وَغْد
I got the title from the movie staring Michael Caine & Steve Martin
The problem is not only in Egypt, lots of people fall for that greed by replying to the massive emails sent from gangs in Africa telling " you have been chosen to recieve millions of dollars" etc... and ask for your bank account, unfortunately, some greedy people fall for it and lose everything. What I do not get is how can anyone fall for that kind of thing when there are so many warnings on the matter, tv, radio etc.... I agree with you about not feeling sorry for the victims but it does not stop me from feeling sad.
Ani
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