Wham Bam Thank You Scam

I’m always bemused to read of people being taken in by foreign scams. The advent of the internet with easy access to credible fronts and simple international money transfers has only made things more perilous for those who might be inclined to trust a stranger with their money. Much as you’d think that by now there can’t be anyone in the developed world who is not on alert for scammers, there seems to be an infinite supply of those willing to take risks for one reason or another.

Keith Jones is not your typical victim though. Not only does he not fit the usual gullible profile, he went to extraordinary lengths to try to track the people who scammed him down. He’s made a movie of his journey which makes fascinating viewing. The story has no happy ending though and should serve as a clear warning that it’s not just we as individuals who are powerless in the face of organised international scams, but how equally powerless the institutions we usually rely upon are.