Fraud in Taiwan is increasing, and one worrying development is that the gang members sent to pick up the proceeds from swindles are getting younger: The youngest detained by the police recently was a first-grade student of a junior-high school. According to the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), as much as 70 percent of the teenage gang members are aware that fraud is illegal, but still persist.
In many cases, these children are getting involved in fraud because they come from poor families, with little in the way of parental discipline to show them right from wrong. These kids play truant and are rebellious, although some are just looking for kicks, are bored, or just want to get easy money to buy things they want. It is these kinds of teenagers who are easy pickings for fraud gangs looking to recruit.
These kids seem to be unaware of the old adage that there is no such thing as a free lunch, or that if you want to have something in this life, you have to work for it. They are on the wrong path, and they will find out soon enough that this path goes nowhere.
Preventing young people from falling into the hands of unscrupulous gangs is one way to get at the root of the seemingly intractable scourge of fraud.
The solution starts at home. Parents need to raise their children well and fulfill their responsibilities. Saying that they are too busy at work to put food on the table is not good enough. At the same time, schools have a responsibility to inculcate a moral compass and an awareness of the importance of the rule of law.
Only by strengthening the moral values of young people can we stop materialistic concepts from growing, as they dare to say “no” to the strong temptation of inappropriate gains.
Shiao Fu-song is a lecturer at National Taitung University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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