Why the rich people cheat? Scamology

This is a trillion-dollar question by itself! It is a riddle, a puzzle so complex, which no one has been able to solve till date. Several, in fact hundreds of studies by psychologists have been conducted, regarding ‘why the rich want to become richer- insanely richer’? Yet there is no verdict in unison- as they say jury is still out. Religious scriptures, even Bible and spiritual leaders, gurus and preachers and Popes have been lecturing on it but nothing seems to change. We still cheat and the bigger we become, bigger our thirst for loot! The more we have the more we want.
Conning the system, conning others, stealing, robbing and there are different ways of filling your own coffers in the most innovative ways. When you steal you take somebody else’s share. There are hundreds of ways. Hawala transactions, rerouting of money, bank loans, tax havens, money laundering, siphoning, conduits, recycling, bogus companies, and even charitable organizations as a front are some popular ones. Defense deals, kickbacks, under the table, over the table, through front doors, revolving doors or back doors, fodder scams, land for jobs, Khichadi scams, Covid scams, blood money, drug money, coffin scams and even making money out of children’s meals or conning couples in their eighties is all a part of the systematic loot. Every day it gets better and better and worse and worse - now cyber fraud is the most recent methodology. Scams have become an artist’s delight but scientific in approach- Art and science of scams as an applied technology- ‘Scamology’ I want to call it.

Instead of taking a rational approach, a scientific, data-based survey-supported method; I feel a philosophical approach may be more rational to look at this malice.

You wake up to cheating every day

And mind you these are big ones not in thousands but in millions and billions- we count rupees but Americans prefer dollars! Newspapers and media are reporting almost a con or two a day. It is a global malice. The list is so long that it would run into several pages for India alone. ‘Panama papers’ must be a big sized paper with a long list. It is a well-accepted fact that money in billions are stashed in Swiss banks and they have a code of conduct, unethical ethics to keep cheats under their sheets! And you can do nothing about it. No nation state can query them.
So everything is fair in greed and loot! So it seems. But where does your black buck stop?

Rich want to become richer?

As chairman of a big bank, you have achieved the highest in your career, you earned great respect, you are on cover page of most sought after magazines as ‘movers and shakers’ of the year, you are paid millions of dollars a year. You get big perks like Company limo, several other cars, and free fuel, Gym membership, club memberships, golf club memberships, free holidays abroad every year, all paid for, a five bedroom fully furnished bungalow, free servants, cooks and drivers. Every year you draw a bonus, ESOPS, you fly business class you drink the best wine and scotch- all on the house! You have a hefty bank balance, Gold and bullion in Kilos. You have several homes and additional properties of your own, and enough returns on your investments. You have an assured pension. But yet your ‘Dill mange more’. You and your family has a full medical cover, you are insured for millions so that when you kick the bucket- the bucket still remains full for some one!

Yet you cheat. Can you tell me why? Some say they want to have more than the ‘other guy’. Really? You want to blame the other guy for your greed? And then you go to temples, go to gurus to find peace. I think a corporate tour of Tihar Central jail for all these Richie rich must be conducted at company expense and may be a night out in a shared cell as a primer, introductory tutorial with ‘jail house rock’ by Elvis in the back ground would be the best musical score for this burglar’s bonanza type visit. They should get a peep into the future- if they ever hit the jackpot!

Yet there are several good guys too.

Narayan Murthy the founder of Infosys while speaking to ET NOW said ‘In every aspect of life values are very important because values are what make us sleep well’ Simple but a profound thought.

The quote below indicates that we create things for ourselves when the end of the road is so near- by then most people who have spent sleepless nights accumulating millions, honestly or dishonestly, have one or several health issues from heart to rectum. What is the point of creating a five million dollar Hang Fung gold toilette when you either have severe piles or horrible to handle constipation!

‘Avarice, in old age, is foolish; for what can be more absurd than to increase our provisions for the road the nearer we approach to our journeys end?’ - Cicero

I feel sorry for small thieves. A guy who is struggling to keep his family alive, struggling to fill his empty tummy, has little or no money for health care, no money to pay his bills, buy some decent clothes. If he cheats it is his ‘majboori’ or desperation to survive yet most don’t. You have an auto-rickshaw driver come and return your wallet or even a laptop- he barely makes both ends meet. Aren’t you ashamed?

If government helps the poor you cry foul. If ED raids you, then you call it vendetta.

All the rich guys are not cheats and that too is a fact but many are.

I feel greed and cheating works at a personal level. You may have been brought up well, yet you may become a ‘Natwarlal’. You may have been raised in slums and yet you can turn out to be a saint. There is no one size fits all formula for human behavior. Criminal minds differ from con minds. Cons differ from the kind ones. Kleptomaniacs steel and love to do it as they are hard wired by nature. Greed is at the end of it an emotion- getting more and more gives you a high- you don’t need it but you want it. Greed also is a ‘fitrat’ or disposition or nature. Many or most people have it in them but several can control their desires, greed and overcome their emotions.

It boils down to self-control and a strong will to be happy with what has been bestowed upon you.

You have a founder of an airline booked, put behind the bars for defrauding a bank of more than 600 crore Rupees. You then have government officers taking bribes in a few lacs to clear your dues- your dues. He gets caught and suspended. But what have you achieved?

Is there a way out?

Have you ever tried to lose weight? Knock of say ten Kilos. How difficult it is we all know. What we call ‘battle of the bulge’.

Those who succeed are the ones who listen to some sort of inner calling- triggered by doctor or it could be just taking a call and say to yourself-‘enough’ I will do it. When you have hunger pangs, your body releases chemicals, sugar levels drop as fat- your fat- melts, which make you uncomfortable, sometimes disoriented, and snappy – this is physical. There are hundreds of occasions where you get tempted to eat, break your promise but you sustain on shear will power, you may go on a binge or some give it a fancy name of ‘cheat day’ once in a while when you let go for a while, - but when you do financial bungling there are different juices that come into play! It is believed to be fueled by dopamine, a hormone. Once you've experienced the dopamine rush that comes from greed (making unneeded money, closing a sale, winning the lottery, etc.) your brain can't help but want those rewards again. ‘Dill mange more’ syndrome.

Smoking which supplies nicotine is also as addictive as greed or like gambling- It causes the brain to release adrenaline, and that creates a buzz of pleasure and energy.

Some people go crazy just looking at wads of cash or even smelling dollars! Just imagining a big bank balance can give you a high too.

For many it is as simple as one short sentence addressed to themselves ‘Why should I do it?’ They remain sane.

‘There is no calamity greater than lavish desires. There is no greater guilt than discontentment. And there is no greater disaster than greed.’ - Lao-tzu