Street Scammers: A User’s Guide
They fall on you when you least expect them. Like an injunction, they force you to listen to them. They are the street hustlers. Sometimes their speech is well rounded, sometimes their lies are blindingly obvious, but despite the doubts you may have, you are often forced to believe them, because swindlers simply do not give you time to think.
If you weren’t expecting them, they woke up in the morning planning to accost you and extract money from you, a nest egg that you will grant them of your own free will! They spot you from afar, and as soon as you are in their sights, they swoop down and approach you in the most natural way. Looking presentable, courteous, they manage to fool you.
Here is an anthology of little tricks found in one of the most highly rated districts of Casablanca, namely the Racine district where scammers, facial tissue “sellers”, shoeshine children, “guerrab ” (water carriers), flute players, and beggars do meet. The latter include those who take up residence under ATMs, old ladies pushing each other on wheelchairs and exchanging roles, the homeless with blankets over their shoulders, and other types of beggars … So many profiles from all over the business capital, who make the trip to an area known to be that of the wealthy and of the gullible, in the hope of coming out with a good harvest. Some, just like any regular employees would do, arrive there every day in the middle of the morning by bus, or even by taking a small cab. After a few hours of predatory wandering, they take back their means of transport to return home.
■ Contribution for the burial of a woman who died isolated
He plays with your emotion. Handing you a small box with a few coins, a man asks you to make a donation, even a few dirhams, for the burial of a woman who died alone in the neighborhood. “The poor lady had no one to take care of her,” he tells you. A few hours later, you meet the same man again, a few blocks away, who tells you the same story.
■ A woman wanders in the middle of the street, holding salbutamol in her hand
In a rush hour, a young veiled woman feigns fainting and falls in the middle of the street, holding salbutamol, medicine for asthma patients in her hand.
The crowd comes to her rescue. The woman takes her time to look alive again. When the time is right, she takes the opportunity to say that she has no more money to buy salbutamol. Et voila!
■ French-Moroccan citizen looking for money to take the train
A man in his 60s, with a file in hand, full of documents, asks you how to go the Casa Voyageurs train station, and above all, if one can go there by foot. When you take the time to explain to him that it is very far away and that it is better to go there by taxi, the sixty-year-old man confesses to you that he has no money. Right away, he throws you a narrative prepared for the occasion. Example, I am a French-Moroccan national, I am gathering documents for the repatriation of my daughter who died in France of leukemia, a tragedy that shook the whole family… I struggle with the administrative paperwork… I had a problem and I found myself here without money, but I have to take the train to Agadir. Then the scammer tells you the price of the ticket, and appeals to your generosity. He promises to reimburse you by bank transfer and insists on taking your number. As soon as he receives your money, he quickly goes away.
■ “Excuse me, can I ask you a favor?”
Young sub-Saharan nationals, looking quite presentable, individually or in groups, approach you in the street: “Excuse me, may I ask you a favor?”. They then explain to you that they are students and that they have no more money to eat. Except that they frequently go around the neighborhood using the same pattern and the same modus operandi.
■ Motorcyclist out of gas
A young man with a key in his hand comes to see you as you have just gotten into your car. He then explains to you that he is out of gas and kindly asks for your help. Immediately after, he makes the rounds of several motorists to collect money. The next day, he returns to the same place to play the same scenario. As long as he is sure that he has not been exposed, he starts again.
What legal remedies?
Section 540 of the Moroccan Penal Code is clear. It incriminates any person seeking to obtain, or to obtain for a third party, an “illegitimate” pecuniary profit. This, by “artfully” misleading a person by means of false assertions. Or else, by the concealment of true facts, or by astutely exploiting the error in which a person was, “thus exposing a person to acts prejudicial to his or her pecuniary interests or to those of a third party.” In these cases, the person engaging in these actions is guilty of fraud. The scammer may therefore be liable to a jail sentence of 1 to 5 years, and a fine of 500 to 5,000 Dirhams (USD 50 to 500) . However, in the case of small street scams, the sums involved are often paltry. Who would like to start legal proceedings for 10, 20 or 300 Dirhams? It would also be necessary to provide proof, which remains difficult. And then, it is not sure that you will be able to meet the scammer again, to then identify him, because these spiel professionals change zones on a regular basis. At best, it is possible to notify the police of the presence of a scammer in the area, if you are sure that he regularly is prowling there.
Ahlam NAZIH
