Scamming: Money in the hands of Fools

Scamming in Jamaica has taught me some fundamentals about money and how it affects people's llife. Money doesn't buy you class, integrity, credibility or even reasoning ability. The accumulation of money only changed your financial status, you are still the same person with the same values, precepts and outlook on life. Just money in the hands of fools will definitely create problems in our society. For the slave who becomes master to feel less of a slave, he too has to enslave others.

Many Americans would be embarrassed when they see who really convinced them to send their life savings away in order to collect a fake sweepstakes prize. Some scammers can barely read, others cannot even pronounce a name properly but who needs these skills in the art of con artism. 

All you need is a persuasive tongue, a good obeah-man and the proper links claim most scammers and you are on your way to being a millionaire. 

Anywhere scamming is, bad men are located because most scammers are not gangsters by nature but eventually become violent due to the influence of their bad men counterparts or in response to and the defense of their newly gain wealth. 

No one coming from poverty will be inclined to sit aside and allow anyone to take away their money or bamboozle them into extortion. 

What I am concerned about is the lack if venture capitalism among scammers. Why don't scammers ( god forbid) invest in the entrepreneurial ideas of young people within their communities. Instead they are more concerned with buying guns and investing in promiscuity, alcoholism and badmanism. 

Money in the hands of not so smart people create problems

I am not one to diss people because I am cerebral and they are not. I suppose I was fortunate to be born clever and my dad was lucky to be able to school me but that never place me in a position to dismiss, disregard or even disrespect the  inane and the uninitiated. 

Our society is responsible for encouraging this obsession that our youths have with the accumulation of money. We have instilled the desire of wealth in our children so much that they are committed to being rich at whatever cost possible.

A recent death in my extended family ushered down foreigners from abroad who for the most part are always obsessed with the idea that someone of my intellect should not be still in rural Jamaica. They have succumbed to the ideology that in order for them to feel like less of a ghetto nigga, they have to treat ghetto people with condescencion. I would like to think i am a master in my own right or on my own terms, i need not enslave anyone so that i can feel superior within myself. I believe all are in the grand scheme of things equal. My education is considered a waste to people who do not see me "flossing and Endorsing".

I believe that is what has precluded this race from going any further and it is because we seek knowledge for the very wrong reasons. We understand that education is a key component in the quest for social mobility but for the most part it has been lost on my people as a foundation for racial advancement. We only seek education so that we can better ourselves and our families so they will in turn look down on our neighbors.

Knowledge without money is foolishness. Can me the prudent speak to a wealthy scammer? No because my brains means nothing to him when he can buy arms and security, build a mansion and take care of his family while i have to struggle to make ends meet in his opinion. When Vyvz Kartel already told them that "Franklyn a fe mi don".

Who cannot scam, want to be gun men and hit men because they know scammers want protection. What we have are men with money and guns ready at any moment due to their induced narcissism to wipe out an entire kinship who offend them.

Some say scamming has saved Jamaica because God Knows that if it was not for the Us Dollars coming into this country that i would have more tragedies to write about. A young man asked me the other night what is the difference between a scammer and a thieff. I thought about it and realize that the thief is probably more ruthless but the scammer sweet talks and deceives to get what he wants. He laughed and enlighten me to this phrasing..."The scammer solicits, the thief takes that which is not given"

What Tommy Lee is doing to our Young Men!

I would be a liar if I said that I was not intrigue by Tommy Lee Sparta lyricism,his fixation with morbidity and graphic detailing of crime and violence has given me much insight into the minds of our young SHOTTas.

Tommy Lee Sparta did not begin this connection between dance hall music and violence but he has taken it to a different level. Tommy Lee augments the glorification of the gun, he purports killing as if it is a superior artistic elemental that only youths of a certain; a not easily attainable calibre can commit. The grimmer the death experience is for the victims, the better, he sensationalizes the connection between criminality and the dark forces. Only someone deep in satanic worship as religious  fanatics put it would name himself "Uncle Demon"

When I listen to Tommy Lee even last night at this party I went to, I always observe the magic transformation, his music has on the patrons. Young men with Gun Fingers at their sides, step out in militancy, face contorted in mime anger and determination: if a bwoy step to any of these young men in the height of one of these Tommy Lee "highs" , memba smady a get dust out.

Not even Vybz Kartel elicits this kind of violent response, after all Kartel is mostly regarded as a Galist and not a badman. Mavado is the one that is considered a Gangster. My main concern Is how the man them get grieve as soon as them hear a Tommy Lee Song.

I will admit that on many afternoons, high on Hennessey and red bull, I would imbibe doses of Tommy Lee Sparta's at parties and Jah Know 'me feel like the baddest gyal around'. I am not naturally a violent person so last night after seeing the Gangstas them "clutch back" as they would say in one of the many badman idiomatic references that are becoming a part of mainstream dialect in the Ghetto. This I will explore after I've done some researches with some of these alleged 'chargies'.

.what I often imagine is how this type of music affects a well thinking person of a rather mild disposition and compare it with the psycho emotional impact it has on a young, semi-literate, barely rational, angry, disaffected youth carrying "vengeance"(grudges) against society for his unfortunate status in life. What you have are easy candidates to build an army. Add some drugs and ,liquor to the mix, and you have found yourself a mean killing machine.

Who is responsible for our young men's obsession with Guns, Money and Murdering someone for the slightest offence? Our young men have lost touch with their values brought on by an erosion of the value system in our society and its replacement being that of the media and misguided notions purported by people with dishonourable intentions.

i believe that our educators have a greater burden on their shoulder, we need an ethics and values class within our education system where children are taught from kindergarten about the value of their humanity. When i was a child, most kids went to church. Today parents do not send their children to church therefore children are not encountering the tenets of christian principles which forms the cores of the values and moral that the Jamaican Society Embraces.

Successful people are afraid to go back to the Ghetto and help youths because they become preys for social predators and their army. How can anyone be interested in helping our children evolve into the best of their humanity when they are consistently bombarded by extortionist, gangsters and thugs.
Small minded people misinterpret charity as meaning you have more to give than seeing it as generosity and will become plagues upon your life. Imagine i buy some books and give it away to children, keep a little back to school fete, i spend a mere $50,000 plus donations from Charities and people misinterpret that as being rich. What does that say about how people view life? If i have to give away, it means i have a superfluous amount! Unknowingly, i invited "bay preements" unto myself without having any intention of doing so. All of a sudden people start checking you for pampers for their baby and stuff...


Tommy Lee is a product of our society. He claims it is just entertainment yet i watched a couple interviews he did and wondered how vacuous he really is and if he writes his lyrics. He sounds shrill to my ears, like rubbing a piece a zinc on a grater and that "yuh zimmi", its annoying and a tell-tale sign of imprudence and rest assure, most teenage boys use it like a pronunciation at the end of every statement.

I say to cousin "WEH U A GO TRAVIS' His response "go out pon the front" laughs and adds "you zemmiiie". I roll my eyes, this is what Tommy Lee does to these young men.

I am not saying Tommy Lee Sparta does not have depth and he has probably seen more gruesome stuff in his 24 years than i have in my 25, but we are the same age group yet we do not think the same way. We have two completely different outlook on life. Or maybe i am not in a position to judge Tommy Lee the person since i only know about Tommy Lee the Artiste.

What i would like to hear is Tommy Lee putting on Forums and spearheading campaigns against Violence. Telling young men the horrific truth of life as a Spartan. Better yet i do not even know why Tommy Lee chose Sparta. He is not even Greek. Does he understand who is a Spartan? Is He alluding to the residents who were free in the Greek city but did not have political rights? why not Zulu or Mandingo? he might have a pint there but endorsing the murder and mayhem as resolution tactics is not the way forward for our society.

I know many overzealous young men are dying for a revolution and power. But remember with great power comes great responsibility. Tommy Lee has five kids and he should think about how his lyrics are affecting the way people might deal with his children.Conflict is unavoidable because human beings will have disagreements but should we be encouraging our children to "mek river run" like blood out of any one who disagrees with our opinions or if someone says something that offends our sensibilities.

Are The Ideals of Being Successful Responsible for The Financial Crimes in The Western World?

We have seen a wave of crimes within the western world with regards to the scams and illegal activities geared at achieving the western dream of success. It may seem that the consumerism in us has overshadowed our morals and values. Human life and validity is measured by dollars and cents and your life can be snuffed out as easily as giving a crack head a 10 dollar bill.

People are far more stressed in the modern society than they were during the colonial era, industrial revolution and twenty years ago. Today’s world and its doldrums have caused widespread disillusion for those that cannot satisfy or conform to its ideal of success. People are constantly being beaten down by life, preyed up on by rogues and unscrupulous individuals.

Corporate society preys on the individual’s weakness and need for validation and social approval. They tell us that if we purchase this product then we will be sexy, confident, loving, attractive, and desirable. Amoral and unethical corporations subscribe to our vulnerabilities and need for financial success and economical independence by providing us with easier, nonexistent answers, offers, opportunities and avenues for advancement. In the end it is a scam and the only persons who have achieved any economical gains from it are the profiteers. The hard working investors are left with nothing but disenchantment, drained bank accounts and depleted resources.


We continue to be tricked by a deluge of home business scams, dating scams, fraudulent investment schemes, nonexistent lottery scams and fallacious sweepstakes. The connoisseur of these illegal business activities preys on our desires and vulnerabilities. They know we want to get rich quickly with little or no effort. They sell us what they know we want, which is quick wealth with small effort or industrious investment. If that is our aspiration then we will continue to be duped and our credit card debts will be high.



Everyone on this planet wants to be successful in whatever variant or realm their society and culture deems as a measure of ultimate success. In primeval society, success was measured by the amount of animals or vast agrarian land that the individual possessed. In today’s world success is measured by our jobs, academical achievements, financial status and our overall contributions and conformity to the advancement of the human race within our relevant societies.


But the criterion for being called a success has changed over the years. There was a time in Jamaica when a man’s success was calculated based on the amount of lands he possessed and cattle. Once up on a time, a Jamaican’s idea of the ultimate Jamaican dream was to possess a car and a house with a nice piece of land for his progeny to inherit.


Today the decisive factor for success is the same but for more compounded. A man wants to have several lands disperse over the island, several cars and several Swiss bank accounts. It is this standard of living that is fomenting the criminal activities and scams that many Jamaican young people are getting involved in. The situation is further magnified by this new wave of obsession with youth, where everyone wants to be successful before they are old. Young people in Jamaica want to have several expensive vehicles, penthouses and millions in the bank before they are twenty five years old.


The need for wealth and high regard is also being propounded by parents who are constantly using the success of other peers of their children to measure the material ascendancy of their own. For instance, I have class mates that I went to school with, who are below the age of twenty two years old and have accomplished several cars and immense wealth. I know nineteen year old who are becoming millionaires over night. When my parents see their success compared to the rate that I am climbing the ladder of success, they assume that I am slacking off and not doing sufficient work to reach the top. . My parents do not know the full details of the success of my few compatriots and the means by which they attained their overnight wealth. They do not care about that because we live in a society where money is the order of the day, by whatever means possible. People will know that you achieve your wealth by illegal means and instead of being subjected to pillory and social dissidence; you are lauded and easily recruit camaraderie who want to get in on the game.


My ex boss once said that Jamaican parents are responsible for the continuation and expansion of the drug trade and the various scams the youths are involved in. In his analysis, when a child tells his parents that he wants to become a farmer. They censure and denigrate him for choosing a career field that within a black Jamaican mindset will not bring about wealth and improvement of social status. They inculcate their children to believe that success is measured by the attainment of money. They socialized children to believe that certain professions bring along with it great opulence while other are relegated for those without ambition.

Few Jamaicans aspire to hard work and dedication. Many youths simply want a “Buss” in the drugs trade or the music business and then they will be able to buy Range Rovers and drink five hundred US dollar champagnes. This life view is hyped by want is propounded in the media. Many youths from the inner-city want to live the life that they see on the American and Jamaican music stations.


Many people in Jamaica know that many individuals at the top got their wealth through mingling in dirty business but do not have the gumption to speak about it publicly. Poor people are continually being exploited by the politicians and the upper class because they know that we want what they have.


When Carlos Hill came to Jamaica with his infamous Cash Plus investment opportunity where Jamaicans were told that they could invest a mere 60,000 dollars Jamaican and will get rewards up to two million dollars: Jamaicans took out a mortgage on their home, loan on their car and drew money from their bank account to invest in Cash Plus venture that appeared to be god sent avenue for success for poor people. Invest a dollar and you will be rewarded with four dollars. It was the investment opportunity of a lifetime.

I remember when I heard my brothers talking about it and I told them that it is impossible to get that kind of returns in such a short span of time. They laughed at me but in the end I was the one laughing when Cash Plus turned out to be another Pyramid Scheme. A scheme that crumbled and Jamaicans learnt for the first time that “not all that glitters is gold”. As my grandmother would say “some gold jewelry a simply wash over, you wash it one time and it change color”





The credit card is another factor in young Jamaicans life as many young people are applying for several credit cards because they want to live beyond their means. They want everything that constitutes the western dream. When the bills arrive, they are unable to pay the bills because they do not have that kind of money nor do their jobs pay sufficient money to cover their debts. A debt brought on by the allure of lavish lifestyle.

We are responsible for getting conned by these fraudulent schemes and investors. We allow ourselves to be baited by consumerism and materialism. We want a better life and nothing is wrong with wanting the best. But sometimes some things are just too good to be true.

My grandmother says that everyone cannot be at the top. Some people will always have some more than others. what is of utmost concern is that those at the bottom may not be living the lavish life like those at the top but yet they are having a wholesome life devoid of hunger and gloom. We want to be considered “somebody”. To be considered somebody in today’s world, means that you have to possess or have a semblance of great materialism to show before you are given the sparkly label.