A fool and his money are soon parted, the old saying goes, and certainly in Jamaica many persons are parted from their money by the devious among us.

That does not mean, though, that they are fools, as many times it is simply desperation which causes persons to plunge head and bank account first into some scheme which is supposed to help them out of a sticky situation.

$10-million scam

The latest such case that this newspaper has reported on is a $10-million scam at the National Housing Trust (NHT), where people apparently paid an employee at the housing solutions organisation to put their names high up on the list of recipients.

One person is alleged to have paid $2 million.

The police are on the case, but we continue to wonder how people find the money to put into these rash schemes in the first place. Of course, just as it is with fraudulent visa schemes, many people see accessing their own house as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to solve if not all of their problems, then at least the major one.

However, just as it is with the visa rackets, we always wonder if people can find so much money to hand over for their 'opportunity' in the first place, why they cannot use the same money in a legitimate plan to alleviate their situation. For certainly if a person pays $2 million to access a NHT housing solution, they can invest it legitimately and purchase a home on the open market, supported by NHT benefits.

Many times, in their desperation, people spend more on back-door deals than they would simply walking the honest path. And hey often lose their money as well.