This is something that has been going on for a long time, and personally I have listened to some of the victims narrating their ordeal. It certainly is not a pleasant experience, but an avoidable one? I believe so.
As we usually do when we feel the need to escape responsibility, some people have claimed these thieves operate via hypnosis. They are believed to weave this spell of hypnosis around their victims, which in turn leads them to follow every suggestion these tricksters make to them.
People have lost numerous valuables to these people, mostly cash, laptops, mobile phones, and even more cash.
Two ladies I know personally, both who were in my class back in school- one of whom is actually my significant other, suffered this fate. One carted her entire year’s fees off to these guys; the other lost some cash, and valuables including her ATM card which she willingly gave off plus the code.
The process is actually quite simple, and varies based on the individuals involved. One plays on your religious inclination, putting you in fear with some dreaded prophecies which you then need to forestall; the other playing on your greed with some ridiculous promises of quick cash which any right thinking person would smell as fraudulent from a mile off.
Yet people continue to fall for these schemes, which I believe makes others reach the conclusion it must be hypnosis. But I distinctly remember whilst listening to the stories of those duped a million points within the story when I felt like, what other more warning flags does one person need?
You might think I’m acting all high and mighty, but GraphicOnline has a piece up on the practice, and stories of two ladies who were duped, you should read those and see how you can reach any other conclusion than two human beings who steadfastly refused to apply their brains.
Victim 1
She was approached by two gentlemen asking for directions, and after getting them where they wanted to go, they then informed her they were dealers in pure gold.
She decided she was interested, and they asked her if she had Ghc 1,000 on her, she had ‘only’ GHc 300, so she gave that to them, she was then handed a white handkerchief and was asked to hide it because it could be easily snatched by thieves.
‘It was after they left that she regained consciousness and realised the handkerchief contained only an old necklace’
Victim 2
This one’s story was narrated by a third party, a mobile airtime recharge vendor, who was one day working when a lady arrived and started ordering recharge cards, scratching them and sending the digits to the one she was conversing with.
She knew the lady in question, so indulged her until the bill started becoming ridiculous. The lady scratched and sent to the other person Ghc 400 worth of airtime before the vendor demanded payment, at which point she seemed to wake from a trance and realised what was happening.
Her explanation? She received a message informing her she had won some money, and that to claim it she had to send some airtime so her money could be sent to her.
Back in school people lost several laptops because they were told one of the parts contained a valuable mineral, thus they sent theirs willingly to these tricksters and they never saw them again. For the ladies I mentioned at the beginning of this piece all that was needed were two men, one posing as a pastor whilst the other was a congregant who could vouch for the ‘krachi powers’ of the man of God in question.
They were then told some disturbing news, which they could forestall by bringing some cash or any other valuable items. Bonus actions include being instructed to count a certain number of electrical poles before looking around, which they obediently carried out whilst their belongings were carted away.
There is no doubt these tricksters are having a field day, but aside asking people to use their brains there really is no remedy. I’m sorry but I don’t see where the hypnosis is when these are common, everyday scams that a second grader could come up with.
If we could just stop looking for the supernatural in everything that happens, applying some good old human logic and reasoning; we would not be finding ourselves in these predicaments all the time.
One last thing; 95% of the victims of these scams are women. Draw from that whatever conclusions you feel like drawing.