Amadu Kargbo

CCJS105

UID: 115175990

8/5/17

Ingber, H. (2017, January 06). 'I Thought I Was Impervious to Scams': Readers Denounce India's

Phone Swindlers. Retrieved August 06, 2017, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/world/asia/i-thought-i-was-impervious-to-scams-

readers-denounce-indias-phone-swindlers.html

The article I Thought I Was Impervious to Scams: Readers Denounce Indias Phone

Swindlers was written on January 6, 2017, by Hannah Ingber. It discusses the experiences

people have had with cell phone fraud. Cell phone fraud is the unauthorized use, tampering or

manipulation of a cellular phone or service (FCC 2017). Thomas E. Heines described how he got

an email from ABC claiming that he didnt have the proper protection on his system and

suggested he should download a new module to update the system (Ingber, 2017). He

downloaded an update to help but an error popped up with a number to call. He called the

number and was Repeatedly transferred all over the place. He finally figured out it was a scam

when they asked him for his credit card information. Some people discussed in the article had

this same experience. The computers were infected with viruses and they were being scammed

into paying money for help.

Others dealt with the problem of these so-called promoters claiming that they can help

them with their technical problems and ask for their credit card info. These calls became more
frequent over time. No legal action was taken in any of these situations however, some of the

victims expressed how they dealt with the problem. A woman named Evelyn expressed how she

continuously called one of the scammers back and harassed them. Her reasoning behind this was

because she wanted to shame him as much as I could (Ingber, 2017). Others suggested

threatening to sue them and asking for their information. These methods helped them stop the

constant calls.

The increase in cell phone fraud has become a serious problem. The law has had issues in

the past trying to solve this crime. This is because of the difficulties of tracking down the

scammers location and determining who the scammers are. Tracking down the scammers

location through their number is difficult. This is due to the inconsistency in the frequency of the

phone numbers used. Scammers constantly change their phone number on the caller ID every

time they call someone making it impossible to find where they are since it seems like they are in

multiple locations. Determining the offenders identity is very difficult. This is because there is

usually more than one person managing these organizations and they mix in their numbers with

real corporations; making it hard to track them down.

White collar crime goes under the theory of general strain. This theory brings up the

argument that all members of society subscribe to a set of cultural values (Agnew, R et al p35).

These values help us create goals to accomplish and the frustration created from the blockage of

their goals creates the use of crime There is some relatability between this theory and white-

collar crime. Strain theory is relevant to the reasoning behind white collar crime. This connection

was made in 1968 in which Merton made the argument that higher class individuals may also

experience goal blockage and respond to crime, including white-collar crime (Agnew, R et al

p35). This statement expresses the reality of stressors and the effect it can have on everyone.
This represents the gray area in the consensus view in which the higher-class are willing to break

the rules governed by them to solve their personal problems. To conclude crime is used as a

convenience to solve an individuals current issues. It is a problem that continuously arises and

can affect every individual no matter what social status.

 Work cited

Agnew, R., Piquero, N. L., & Cullen, F. T. (n.d.). General Strain Theory and White-Collar

Crime. The Criminology of White-Collar Crime,35-60. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-09502-

8_3

Cell Phone Fraud. (2017, May 19). Retrieved August 06, 2017, from

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/cell-phone-fraud