Double Deceit Summary

Double Deceit: A True Story of a Nigerian Scam
Dr. Agnes Chambers-Glenn, privately published, 106-14 Greenview Drive, Kingston, Ontario, K7M 7T5, [e-mail], 2013. 244pp. ISBN 978-1-4669-9438-6. CAD$15

In the novel, Double Deceit by Dr. Agnes Chambers-Glenn, the author follows the story of a medical doctor, Dr. Hassan Mashaal, a long time retire, on his pursuit as he takes down the money scammers who were responsible for the US $10.5 million scandal. Dr. Mashaal also gave insights to how one can protect themselves from the growing epidemic of unethical business practices. As Dr. Mashaal continues his expedition to recover his savings, he realizes that he is not the only one being scammed, but thousands of people around the world are also affected by these types of scams everyday. Dr. Mashaal later decides to seek assistance from the Canadian government; they were able to capture one of the culprits and bring him to justice according to his actions.
Furthermore, the epilogue gives a crash course on how to identity these scams, who to contact in case you need help, and what actions you can take to prevent these scams from ever happening in the future.

As this is the second case ever to be prosecuted in Canada, this story introduces to the readers the reality of how people can lie about their situations in order to take advantage of someone's financial or status position. Many people agree that this is a serious crime and that the one who commits it deserves punishment. Consequently, by analyzing the issues of (1) How money scammers can be related to fraud?, (2) What impact do money scammers have on how we deal with international business?, (3)How the topic of ethics and corruption contribute in dealing with money scammers at the individual and corporate level?, we can see how people handle differently when being scammed by someone in contrast to being the person who scams others. These days, since money scammers and those who commit fraudulent activities are becoming very sophisticated given the advancements of technology, it is greatly recommended that one should become familiar with these topics and also remember that these scams can happen to anyone. Receiving emails, text messages, phone calls and sometimes even mail regarding unbelievable promotional offers that one cannot ignore can be usually placed under fraudulent activities. In its most general form, fraud can be defined as an act of deceit or a deceptive trick (Hoskin 5). In association with the money scammers, manipulating people by stealing their money through advance fees or requiring personal information is considered as fraud. For example, in 2007, the Canada Revenue Agency put out a warning to alert Canadians of a mail scam where a letter with pretense of coming from their office requested personal information claiming that they had insufficient information for the individual tax return (Glenn 223). Hence, one should caution themselves from disclosing personal information to the public readily, and should verify if the source is proven scam-free.
The reality is that fraud is a growing epidemic that is unavoidable in other words it can very well happen to anyone at any time. As shown by Statistics Canada, Fraud, the most common property violation, accounted for 54% of all cybercrimes reported to police in Canada in 2012 (Star 1). As a result, educating oneself in strategies on how to detect fraud can help one decide in avoiding common mistakes most people make, especially fraud schemes which can be prevented. Applying these practices on a corporate level will reduce costs in investigating fraud claims, and would allow businesses to make better decisions that would benefit the economy in the long run. Moreover, realizing that an honest person with personal integrity could still commit fraud, there are motives, situational pressures, and many other reasons that drive regular people to commit
fraud.

For instance, an employee working at a company being told s/he could secretly borrow money from the firm may not know that s/he is already stealing money from their boss or someone else in the company. Hence forth, depending on the person’s intention, s/he can steal blindly in the belief of borrowing something with permission (Hoskin 3).

Thus, setting good standards, guidelines and controlling the business environment through knowing more about their employees can go a long way in letting the business make better decisions when it comes to personal integrity and peer pressure. It is, therefore, very important that both at the individual and business level give more attention to what the risks of fraud are, to learning what techniques can be used to fight fraud, and that society should be educated on how to reduce fraud in the future.

Nowadays, it has become popular for businesses to expand in international markets in order for them to grow, which allows businesses to reach a variety of consumers. But an expansion in the coverage of one’s business has its downsides, such as a company could be more vulnerable to financial-related scams. As a result, many money scammers pose as government representatives and investors by altering official documents to deceive individuals and new businesses, thus, giving them the authority to require personal and bank information. As Dr. Glenn has noted, "Offices in legitimate banks and government buildings appear to have been used by impostors posing as real occupants or officials"(Glenn 206). That is to say, both individuals and businesses should prove the legal existence of official documents by verifying signatures, stamps and logos with government agencies to confirm whether the documents and people associated are real or not. Moreover, as most money scammers are individuals who are outside the eyes of a company, businesses should also be aware of international partners and/or suppliers who misuse their authorities with the intent of stealing money or sabotaging the company's image. The Statistic Brain, a trusted research provider to well-known media outlets such as Forbes, CNN and Wikipedia, reports that in 2012, 7% of percent of annual revenues within a company were lost to theft and fraud in North America (Statistic Brain 1). Given that, business managements should be vigilant by safeguarding their hardware and software, and imposing tight security mechanisms to ensure the protection of the system from hacking. This applies to everyone, whether an individual, local business, or internationally established company.

Ethics and corruption are two vital issues that have an effect on the way we do business in both developed countries and non-developed countries all over the world. To commence, corruption is found to be present in the majority of non-developed countries seeing as there is not enough federal laws being strictly implemented by the government. As pointed out by Dr. Glenn in the novel, “Corruption is as prevalent within the government itself as it is in the population in general” (Glenn 84). Hence, individuals and companies should be more observant and cautious when dealing with customers and businesses from non-developed countries as it would be hard to connect these scams to the people responsible since the country itself is facing corruption. Furthermore, corruption can be directly connected with ethics which is defined as the study of right and wrong with regard to individual standards and/or society moral beliefs. Subsequently, making decisions on right and wrong varies from person to person and therefore it is understandable that some societies choose to live by their own terms and base their interests on what benefits them. As mention by Dr. Glenn in the book, "It is considered a way of life in Ghana to outwit your neighbour with a better way of making a living through such money scams (Glenn 210). As a result, it is noteworthy to recognize that not everyone is perfect; in other words that people are not always going to make decisions that benefit everyone as a whole. Therefore, it is best for individuals and businesses to take the necessary steps discussed above in order to safeguard themselves from money scammers and unethical people.

To summarize, Double Deceit, by Dr. Agnes Chamers-Glenn, truly opens the eyes of readers on the reality of money scams that go on all over the world. Personally, I learned that everyone is not the same and there are people who choose to make bad decisions despite the harm being cause to someone else. I also learned many techniques that will allow me to identify potential money scams and as well as ways to report these scams so that others would not fall for them. All in all, this book is well written and through reading, I walked away a better person. I personally recommend this book not only to business prospects but people who want to make the world a better place. To conclude, Dr. Glenn leaves readers with advice that, "Never pay money to get money! AND If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is a scam!" (Glenn 234).