The Darker Side of Philippine Culture – the Scams

        The Filipino’s often praised friendliness is thought by many Filipinos to be the bedrock of Philippines culture. Unfortunately, outsider’s views differ, for example when asked to make a comment about the Philippines; they often highlight a negative aspect of Philippine culture, the scams. In fact, it is commonly said that while Filipinos didn’t invent scams, they honed them into an exact science.

            When treated with common courtesy and respect, the overwhelming majority of Filipinos are open and friendly. However, poverty breeds crime; and there are many poor people in the Philippines. This may be true, and can be easily accepted as the root cause of much petty crime, but this is not usually the case with scams.

            Many visitors to the Philippines foolishly fall into the trap of believing that all Filipinos are con men and all foreign expatriates are trustworthy – they aren’t. Indeed, some of the worst tales I’ve heard of a foreigner being involuntarily separated from his money have been perpetrated by other foreigners, usually under the guise of a business deal or partnership arrangement.

           What makes perpetuation and success of many of the scams carried out in the Philippines so strange is that they are repeated over and over, and people pay out, over and over. A typical example is the ‘job agent.’

             A guy comes to the barrio and makes a big hit with the people telling them he is a hiring agent for a big company in Taiwan. He says he has many jobs open and wants applicants, only fly in the ointment is that every applicant he gets a job has to pay P80k for admin and visa charges. Lots of people get a job offer (even those with no qualifications or experience), pay over cash the next month – then can’t ever contact the agent again. This is not good, and many may say that the applicants should have thought it through, checked with the company concerned etc. But then again, things seemed above board and if you are desperate for a good job, you may try anything.  I can understand this, but…

           Seven months later, a different guy comes to the barrio, this saying he is a hiring agent for a company in Saudi. Same deal; if job offered the applicant has to pay for visas ext, only this time P85k. – Even some of those taken in the last scam pay over cash.

           Almost all scams rely on gaining the confidence of the person being relieved of their money, which is why proponents are called confidence (con) artists. Very often these con artists rely on their ‘marks’ greed, whether it is selling something well below its value, or convincing someone they can get something for little effort. The seemingly strange aspect of the Filipino scams working so well is how many people appear to accept that they can get something for nothing, and how even after many scam warnings, they ignore the facts and rely on their instincts, strong in their belief that they can get something for nothing. 

             Oh, and if you think this is just a Filipino trait, ask yourself why after years of TV, newspaper and other warnings, western guys still pay over and loose cash to ladies they meet in chat rooms.

           The problem is that until it actually happens to them, people just don’t learn. Don’t be one of them. Though it sounds like military jargon, the term ‘situation awareness’ is a really simple concept for you to follow. It just means that you should be observant and alert to what is going on around you. While the unaware may inadvertently stumble into trouble, those that spend a little time and energy thinking things through and checking facts rarely get conned.