One of late father's favorite quotes was from the James Bond film Goldfinger in which the villain Goldfinger runs into James Bond way too many times and declares:
"Once is 'happenstance'. Twice is 'coincidence'. Three times is 'enemy action' "
Picture Above: 007 and Goldfinger at their upteenth encounter. By that time, Mr. Goldfinger was clearly ticked off with all the run-ins. SOURCE: www.cbanews.ca
Picture Above: 007 and Goldfinger at their upteenth encounter. By that time, Mr. Goldfinger was clearly ticked off with all the run-ins. SOURCE: www.cbanews.ca
The take-home message I have always held dear is that one has to be wary of things that come in threes. This brings me to the bizarre new breed of tricksters operating in Accra. I'm not referring to the much hyped so-called Sakawa Boys who according to some newspapers seem to engage in everything from internet fraud to turning people into snakes. Yes, you heard me....snakes. Nor do I refer to the confidence tricksters who usually manipulate their victims' religious beliefs to dupe them out of everything leaving them down to their last coin and underwear. What I'm talking about are a new garden variety of crooks that have been sighted at various points across the sprawling Accra metropolis. Here are three accounts I have heard highlighting their modus operandi.
Story 1: Kaneshie Market
A year ago my office-mate told us about something that had happened to a friend of his. She was at the Kaneshie Market when she was approached by a group of men in search of directions. She was not sure what happened next but before she knew it, she had chartered a taxi that was heading straight for her house in North Kaneshie. Upon arrival, she found all the mobile phones in the house, loaded everything up into the waiting taxi and sped off straight back to the market where the mysterious men were lingering patiently. Sometime after handing over the phones, she realised what she had done but unfortunately, the men had evaporated into the crowd.
Story 2: Tema/Sakumono (Not quite Accra but you catch my drift)
A month ago, a national service lady working with us ran into two gentlemen looking for directions. Before she knew it, she was leading these men to her house. She politely asked them to wait outside while she entered and retrieved her mother's and brother's mobile phones. She handed over the items to the men but not before adding her own phone. The grateful tricksters took off leaving the national service girl still in a daze.
Story 3: Somewhere in Accra
Just a couple of weeks ago, a prospective national service person who is currently interning with us was approached by two gentlemen very close to her home. Apparently, one can be described as short, very light-skinned with some sort of foreign accent (whatever that means!). The men were looking for some directions as usual. It appeared the light-skinned one was particularly taken by the young lady....at least that is the impression she got! He started to rub her hands while he asked her for the directions. Next minute, she was leading an expedition bound straight for her house. She asked her new friends to wait outside while she prepared a package for them; mobile phones, her new laptop and her ATM bank-card. She was sure to include her laptop password and ATM pin.
I've actually heard a 4th story but that would defeat my whole point about things coming in threes. What could explain these bizarre tales of crookery? Most people believe that black magic/charms/juju were involved but I'm a little more skeptical. Aside from the common thread running through the stories which is that that they all involve young women there is the fact that they were rendered into some sort of trance-like state by the tricksters.
I believe that these crooks are using hypnosis to make suggestions to their victims and getting them to steal for them. What is hypnotism/hypnosis anyway? According to the good folks over at Wikipedia:
Hypnosis is a mental state or set of attitudes usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject , or may be self-administered ("self-suggestion" or "autosuggestion").
SOURCE: wikipedia.org
The Wikipedia article actually gives quite a lot of background to hypnosis.
I've only seen hypnosis in operation once. That was back in college at some entertainment events. I was a little skeptical then but when the hypnotist was able to get people to bark like dogs and do all sorts of crazy things I realised that there was much more to it. It did appear to work.
Alas, there is no way to prove that these criminals are using hypnosis but in the meantime, beware of people seeking directions and holding your hand while asking!!
Story 1: Kaneshie Market
A year ago my office-mate told us about something that had happened to a friend of his. She was at the Kaneshie Market when she was approached by a group of men in search of directions. She was not sure what happened next but before she knew it, she had chartered a taxi that was heading straight for her house in North Kaneshie. Upon arrival, she found all the mobile phones in the house, loaded everything up into the waiting taxi and sped off straight back to the market where the mysterious men were lingering patiently. Sometime after handing over the phones, she realised what she had done but unfortunately, the men had evaporated into the crowd.
Story 2: Tema/Sakumono (Not quite Accra but you catch my drift)
A month ago, a national service lady working with us ran into two gentlemen looking for directions. Before she knew it, she was leading these men to her house. She politely asked them to wait outside while she entered and retrieved her mother's and brother's mobile phones. She handed over the items to the men but not before adding her own phone. The grateful tricksters took off leaving the national service girl still in a daze.
Story 3: Somewhere in Accra
Just a couple of weeks ago, a prospective national service person who is currently interning with us was approached by two gentlemen very close to her home. Apparently, one can be described as short, very light-skinned with some sort of foreign accent (whatever that means!). The men were looking for some directions as usual. It appeared the light-skinned one was particularly taken by the young lady....at least that is the impression she got! He started to rub her hands while he asked her for the directions. Next minute, she was leading an expedition bound straight for her house. She asked her new friends to wait outside while she prepared a package for them; mobile phones, her new laptop and her ATM bank-card. She was sure to include her laptop password and ATM pin.
I've actually heard a 4th story but that would defeat my whole point about things coming in threes. What could explain these bizarre tales of crookery? Most people believe that black magic/charms/juju were involved but I'm a little more skeptical. Aside from the common thread running through the stories which is that that they all involve young women there is the fact that they were rendered into some sort of trance-like state by the tricksters.
I believe that these crooks are using hypnosis to make suggestions to their victims and getting them to steal for them. What is hypnotism/hypnosis anyway? According to the good folks over at Wikipedia:
Hypnosis is a mental state or set of attitudes usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a series of preliminary instructions and suggestions. Hypnotic suggestions may be delivered by a hypnotist in the presence of the subject , or may be self-administered ("self-suggestion" or "autosuggestion").
SOURCE: wikipedia.org
The Wikipedia article actually gives quite a lot of background to hypnosis.
I've only seen hypnosis in operation once. That was back in college at some entertainment events. I was a little skeptical then but when the hypnotist was able to get people to bark like dogs and do all sorts of crazy things I realised that there was much more to it. It did appear to work.
Alas, there is no way to prove that these criminals are using hypnosis but in the meantime, beware of people seeking directions and holding your hand while asking!!
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