Introduction
Con artists have been around for a very long time. They say the oldest profession is prostitution. Yet the con artist, the fraudster, one who preys on the easily gullible likely was not far behind. The “con” in con artist is short for Confidence. One who with charm, or other techniques of persuasion, convinces the unwary to trust them. All for the purpose of personal gain whether it be money, fame, or both.
In this issue we look at a simple tool to help identify when you are being scammed.
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Feature Article
The Emperor’s New Cloths
Fraud, a word we hear a lot about but what does it mean? According to my trusty Funk and Wagnalls dictionary it is “willful deceit; trickery.” The Canada Criminal Code, section 380(1) defines it as: “Every one who, by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, whether or not it is a false pretence within the meaning of this Act, defrauds the public or any person, whether ascertained or not, of any property, money or valuable security or any service.” How do we protect ourselves from fraud? By asking questions to expose the deceit. That is the primary reason for “Free Speech,” especially in the political arena as too many affiliated with politics will try their best to deceive the voting public.
Unfortunately too many of us are gullible; we for reasons of our own decide who to believe and not believe, and not by testing the veracity of what has been said. How many of us know of someone who has been a victim of fraud whereby the perpetrator said something that the victim believed? Or have fallen victim ourselves and chide ourselves afterward by “I should have known better.”
A part of human nature is to trust others, but some of us are too trusting. Thus, the famous quote “there’s a sucker born every minute” attributed to P.T. Barnum, the circus impresario.
There is a reason why fraud is prevalent world wide; people are too ashamed to admit they have been suckered and so never say anything once they realise they have been duped. Another is also human nature in that many of us are more worried about appearing ignorant, not knowing, and thus go along with the flow.
A case in point is “global warming,” now morphed into “climate change.” As a trained scientist and one who analyses statements based on my acquired knowledge, I have been looking for confirmation that humans are causing either event, and after close to 3 decades of trying I still come up empty handed.
As a society we have acquired a suite of legends, old saws, stories, and fables that try to share lessons learned with future generations. For example, the one titled the Emperor’s New Cloths as recorded by Hans Christen Anderson and first published in 1837. It tells the story of two fraudsters who convince the Emperor they will make for him “magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent.” And it is that last part, “stupid or incompetent” that far too many of us do not want attributed to ourselves rather than admitting the truth. And there lies the problem.
Take any of the major news sources, whether they be television, newspapers, news magazines or radio. Anyone can say anything fraudulent if they pretend to be someone with superior knowledge. And that’s it. No proof is needed for what they say. Just taking a small sample from the last few decades: Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, which he did not yet his accusers did; come January 1, 2000 everything with a computer will stop working because they were using programs that used 2 digit dates and not 4 and so will not know what to do, again nothing happened because computers are only as smart as the programming used; Al Gore released his documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth and not one of the predictions made has ever come true, none; and most recently SARS-Cov2 will be the death of us all, and we should know by now how that has worked out.
Each one of these examples I remember well as I evaluated each in turn what was told and quickly came to the realisation in each case the Emperor definitely did not have any cloths on! Not because I am so much smarter, which I am not. I just asked some basic questions and first, and foremost, did not trust the media for the answers. The method I use is not a secret. Who, What, Where, How and Why are the basic questions we all know how to ask but too often are too timid, or for what ever reason, unwilling to ask.
Here is an example of a question I asked myself in December of 2019; why do I need to take a flu vaccine every year? If I remember correctly a “vaccine” is meant to stimulate the immune system so that the body is ready to react if exposed to the real thing and thus provide immunity. That theory made sense but why every year? But there are several strains of the flu! We don’t know which one! But, after 4 years or so one we should have had a vaccine for each and every one, right? And that is when I had a crucial epiphany, I realised that they never did say the flu shot actually worked! Like I have already said, I do not say I am smarter. But by asking questions, sooner or later you will have the right answers and then can make the right decisions.
Yet there are always clues if a source of information can be trusted. Like with my example in the previous paragraph, I finally asked the equivalent of the question spoken in that old Wendy’s commercial; where’s the beef? Where is the evidence? Take any headline in your local newspaper and look for an ominous statement. The source was from someone we should “trust,” whether a government official or a science expert, especially one with a PhD or MD after their name. If honest they would give the reasons why they drew the conclusion they did, reasons that you can verify yourself. At a minimum they would provide proof for their statement.
Now that does not mean there is no fraud. Often you need to dig deeper. Another example of a fraud I witnessed was the BreX affair, back in the early 1990’s. Their chief Geologist, John Felderhof, kept making public announcements that gold had been found in the wilds or Borneo and with each telling it was bigger than last. But where were the drill logs? None were shared. How about the assay results? Sorry. Those two questions should have been red flags but were ignored. Then a third party was brought in who tried to duplicate assay results by analysing core that was still in the box. Under normal circumstances the results should be quite similar. In this case the new samples were blank, no gold. At all. The fraud was finally revealed for what it was all along.
It took several years before this fraud crashed and burned. The reason it lasted as long as it did was that too many wanted to believe it was true. The same can be said of many frauds, such as “global warming”/”climate change.” Remember, the reason for the switch was that no evidence had been found to prove the former. Any good fraudster will find a way to convince the gullible that it is something else. Anything to keep the scam going.
That reminds me, another clue is to “follow the money” as fraud is typically done for the purpose of making as much money as possible in a short period of time. To illustrate this point, remember how Bill Gates was going to give all of his wealth away? He formed the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help with that. The evidence has been there all along that this plan too was a fraud. Bill has been at or very near the top of the list of wealthiest people on earth for a long time, and still is. Why is that? Didn’t he say he was going to give it all away? Simple. He has found other ways besides making computer software to keep getting wealthy. Like investing in pharmaceuticals, especially vaccines.
Why vaccines? Because too many governments have passed laws protecting pharmaceutical companies from being sued for unsafe products, especially vaccines. Countries like the U.S. and Canada. Back to Bill Gates. I recently came across a report whereby they documented that Bill had invested in BioNTech in 2019, buying in at $18 per share and then cashed out in 2021 at about $300 per share. In case you are not aware, BioNTech partnered with Pfizer to create their mRNA “vaccine” that has since proven to be neither safe nor effective. Neither of which the victims can do anything about as the manufacturers were granted immunity, as long as they were given Emergency Use Authorisation, which is still in place.
What lesson can we learn? First, note that I am asking a question, one that helps stimulate the thinking process. There is the secret. Be like that curious two-year-old who incessantly asks questions. Any honest person will provide answers or direct you to someone with the right knowledge to provide the answers. Do the job we used to trust journalists to do. While some still fulfil their expected role, far too many in traditional media do not.
If you can query anyone in media, ask them why you should believe them. What questions did they ask to verify the information being reported? Where is the evidence? Where are the studies from which these conclusions were drawn? Were the researchers biased due to the source of their funding? The same if it is someone from a Non-governmental organisation, like The Sierra Club. Or a government representative, including your member of provincial parliament or member of parliament. Hold them accountable. If their reply involves finger pointing and name calling, run because that is the only way to avoid being the victim of the fraudster you have just exposed for who they really are.
By: Alan Aubut