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The Anger of Fraud
In the aftermath of Fraud
while victims feel the wounds
the broken expectation of aid
brings anger and isolation
This is the anger of broken expectation. As Canadians we feel we pay dearly in tax for our public services to be second to none in the world. We pay dearly and yet may rarely stand to receive any such service. So anger at being turned away from services when we are in trouble is infuriating. There is no real police/government protection or advice to be found for the "victims" of fraud. As a Canadian it is shocking to discover you have always held a false sense of public security. After growing up weaned on the idea that the police are always there to help you, so no matter what, if trouble comes your way you go to the police. It is a demoralizing and disorienting shock to now find that they are not there when you seek help. The shock, that no one, not even the police or government officials are standing ready to help you with your specific case of fraud when you need help most, is devastating.
With all the violent crime we are witnessing on our city streets the focus of law and law enforcement is totally on the visible hurtful crime in the street. Police are not deployed in numbers great enough to even record all the nonviolent crime in a timely fashion. Any one who has experienced a simple theft and reported it to the police will have discovered how little regard is paid to nonviolent crime. Considering how little resources are available the official response is nothing more than fact reporting and lip service paid to potential investigation. With the lack of manpower recording a nonviolent crime is almost regarded as an obstacle to the "real police work."
How can I say this? Well a number of years ago, my sons friend was the only outsider visiting in my home when a very valuable piece of antique jewelry, a gold mounted 1686 Piece of Eight coin and gold chain, went missing. I reported this to police immediately on discover just hours after the theft. I gave police the perpetrators name, address, phone and description including where he could be currently found at a local bar. I was told this young man was known to police by previous illegalities but because there was no eye witness to the theft and other family members were present in the home, culpability could not be directly charged. From past experience with him the police officers disbelieved the kid would come clean if they questioned him. I understood they were going to go and investigate this young man anyway and see if he would crack and give back the piece under direct suspicion. When I learned the next day that the police did no such follow up, I was shocked and very angry. I called the boys mother and convinced her to search his room for this unique jewelry and she found the gold mount but no coin or necklace. I had to do my own police work to get the evidence but I also had to cut a deal with his mother to not file charges to confront the kid and get the coin and gold chain back. The only positive part of this was that he had sold the $450.00US chain for $25.00CDN and it cost him $125.00CDN to buy it back for me. It was three weeks later when a constable called me to say he was now working diligently on my file and hoped to have some news soon. Bullsh*t I told him, I handed you the perpetrator on a platter and you did nothing. If you had been working on my file you would have had success or at least already know I had done my own policing and retrieved my property. There was a great deal of backpedaling in his explanation of how lack of manpower had them in a backlog of work. I'm sorry but if you wait three weeks to track down a sure thing, the only thing sure is my property would have been long gone.
Do not take me wrong, I do not lay blame police for inadequate policing. I am quick to acknowledge that lack of funds dictates many policies of lack in public services. The police nor any Canadian can account for why there are insufficient funds for policing, healthcare and education when we all pay such extraordinarily high taxes. The truth is, that with current resources and the visible level of violent crime, the police are pressed to focus on that which the public deems most visibly important and nonviolent crime falls off the radar screen. With this reason only a smaller fraction of our policing dollar is allotted to nonviolent crime and as a result, this is crime that apparently does pay. It is why perpetrators of fraud from all over the world have migrates to the safe-haven of Canada to do their work and Canada has become second only to Nigeria in the industry of fraud crime. I am told this, by a high ranking Canadian police source involved with fraud investigation and while he was reluctant to share Canadian criteria for investigation I was also told that in the USA, if a fraud report does not exceed $100.000.00 theft, it is not considered worthy of investigation. I suspect this is also true here.
Fraud in Canada is regarded as secondary importance, because in the absence of physical violence it is often perceived as victimless crime. The public may simply anticipate that whatever losses that are incurred from deceit are covered by corporate or bank profits and of course somehow equalize against the exorbitantly high insurance premiums we pay. Or maybe the general public just doesn't notice crime without visible violence. One way or the other, this is not high on our crime investigation agenda. Our track record is that we do not do anything about this nemesis probably because we do not have enough fear or disgust for its aftermath effects.. at least until we ourselves become a victim. However, fraud is psychologically and emotionally violent attack on the core self-perception of your life. As a victim and advocate I am here to say it is as psychologically violating as rape and it carries dire consequences to the victims, such that, if we can not adequately pursue these criminals we must do something preventative to make Canada a nonprofitable territory for fraud.
As an example, the Canadian Marriage Fraud Victim Society was developed by citizens who have been victims and they argue that the federal government doesn't do enough to protect Canadians from unscrupulous paramours. They have presented a 20,000 signature petition to Parliament requesting that permanent residence status should no longer be automatic for immigrants sponsored here by their Canadian spouses. Instead they want Canada to follow the example set by the United States and Australia, where the marriage must last three years before foreign spouses can attain their permanent Canadian papers. With that kind of time frame, many of the con artists may be dissuaded from using marital fraud to get into Canada (Toronto Sun July 9, 2006 pg. 6).
Our Laws and policing work best against those of us to are willing and try to live within the rules. We are easy to spot, and easy to catch, and easy to punish, simply because we do not intend to do the crime. Therefore, we spend no effort to learn how to avoid arrest before we stumble haplessly into unfamiliar territory. Our policing dollars are spent on this because it at least show successful numbers in arrest reports. As result, you will also find out that you, the victim, are very likely to be perceived as accomplice to the perpetrator and have no rights, whereas the "career criminals" have numerous rights just because they are educated about what they do. To make matters worse, their rights are protected by the high cost of enforcing the law. Organized crime is far more difficult to pursue and therefore far more costly to police.
There is a monetary reason why the main official Canadian thrust against fraud in not investigative measures leading to arrest. Policing has turned to intelligence gathering and fraud prevention education of the public because it is too expensive and unfruitful to hunt and prosecute these career criminals. In Canada, the cost of hunting these professional criminals is high and when police do catch our lawful sentencing is so minimal that crooks get only 6 months to probation in cases where USA is slamming them with 7 to 20 years. And with our freedom of information policies the crooks get a printed report on how they got caught so they can study how not to get caught again. Under these circumstances, if you were a cop would you think a fraud victims complaint was worthy of the time spent taking it, let alone investigating it? Even in the USA where they have cracked down on fraud to send criminals scampering to the safe haven of Canada, the rule of thumb is, If the value defrauded is less than $100,000.00 its not worth pursuing!
Don't get mad, get wise. Get on the information trail and build your own defense as being caught in the middle as a victim. Become a part of the solution instead of the problem.
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