Tema, March 26, GNA – The premises of the Tema Regional office of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) was recently thronged, mostly by young men and women who were lured into thinking they were recruited into the Immigration Service, but alas were duped.
Scenarios
A look at their faces showed despair and worry as they sat or stood on the compound hoping to get redress for the scam that had robbed them of thousands of Ghana cedis.
In the midst of their confusion, the supposed brain behind the scam, a 46-year-old man and his 71-year-old accomplice, were brought to the office, handcuffed.
This was the spectacle at the offices of the Tema Regional Command early this month when officers of the GIS busted a recruitment scam syndicate which had swindled over thirty unsuspecting youth to the tune of GH¢ 250,000.00.
Issues of scam syndicates offering fake recruitment into mostly the security services in Ghana has been an issue in recent times.
Mostly, many young men and women find themselves not only robbed of their livelihoods, but also deceived and the hope of landing their dream security jobs quashed. The frequency is indeed astonishing.
Why swindling?
Why, for instance, would the criminals not fear to scam the public using no mean an outfit other than a state security agency? Why would young people who could afford the kind of money demanded by these scammers allow themselves to be fooled when sometimes there were clear signs that pointed to the fact that something was wrong with the deal?
First of all, the perception of buying one’s way through situations instead of going through the mill becomes the means by which many are lured.
It is certain, that no governmental agency, seeking to recruit people, would take huge sums of money from the prospective recruits, apart from the peanuts they may charge for the recruitment forms.
In that regard, why would one believe that the person demanding those huge amounts of money for job placement was actually doing the right thing?
This situation betrays some kind of attitude on the part of the victims that makes it possible for them to be scammed: it is an attitude of wanting to bribe their way through the system without working hard to merit what they want. This attitude makes the victims as much to blame as the culprits because their own perception of making it through the back door lands them in the hands of scammers.
It is also a fact that not everyone may be suited for every kind of occupation, and that people should not take the seemingly attractive nature of certain professions to think that is their destination. Some are born to be journalists, medical practitioners, security personnel, yet others teachers; some are to be engineers and scientists whilst others may find themselves as artisans.
In all these, it is certain that the fulfillment one gets in being of service to mankind in those capacities should ride above all other considerations.
In any event, if one still desires entry into any of the security agencies in Ghana, it is incumbent on such a person to do the needful—satisfy all entry requirements and present oneself in such a way that would make it difficult for the person to be rejected in the selection process.
Many times, the victims of such scams are not properly qualified and are also not prepared to upgrade themselves to be considered fit for entry next time and so are easily blinded by their own circumstances to fall prey to the scammers.
In that regard, the scamming would continue, because the scammers are smart people who would want to take advantage of the situation to enrich themselves.
These are people who believe one thing, that, even though they are not skilled enough to land a decent job, they are smart enough to take advantage of persons who had become desperate as a result of their own perceived failures in life.
So the two groups are about one and the same breed of people; they both fall into the category of persons in the nation who are not ready to take the bull by the horn and change their circumstances as much as they could, of course through the proper means.
They are people who believe that, either paying their way through or luring people who want to pay their way through situations, they could ride the same cars, build the same houses, and live their dream lives, just as all others.
Hey, let us not be judgmental, let us just say the busted recruitment scammers in the hands of the immigration officers are just suspects and may not be guilty of the charges leveled against them.
But, if they are indeed guilty, one would have thought that they would have used their intelligence and great innovations which they used to lure their victims to pursue genuine agenda that would have brought them genuine wealth.
It is worth noting, that, in every human endeavor, one is always free to pursue any course of action, so long as it is right, and therefore, should a person desire any field of endeavor, they must put in their best to qualify to enter such a fraternity.
It is therefore not necessary for anybody to allow themselves to be deceived to part with their hard earned money just to enter a profession they are even not suited for.
GNA