Beware of white-collar rogues!

Under the watch of the law-enforcement agencies firmly set on crime in more open places, criminals have turned to rather unsuspecting arenas and would stop at nothing to introduce new techniques in their obnoxious schemes.

Mass transit systems have lately been infested by these criminals, but travelers thought they had found new safe ground in what is generally referred to as VIP travel models proposed by inter-urban transport companies as a panacea to keep down stealing, deceit and other forms of reprehensible practices on board.

It is no longer the haggard lads everyone would want to avoid who mount on buses, but well-dressed gentlemen whose appearance leave impressions of a well-brought up, urbane person with nothing distrustful about him at first sight. Unsuspecting people quickly fall victim.

A few days ago, two similar cases of strange practices were recorded on comfort buses travelling between Douala and Yaounde. In one instance a woman coming in from abroad, had to continue her trip to Yaounde after her plane landed in Douala.

A seat partner who would easily pass for a monk engaged her into a conversion during which she naively told him the kinds of things the disguised thief had really wanted to hear and soon, there was an exchange of civilities that ended up seeing the woman accept a kind offer of some candies.

They had actually been treated with sleep-inducing substances which, of course sent her into deep sleep, offering the opportunity for the white-collar thief to thoroughly search her. She had paid a price too high for accepting a “kind” offer. She lost 5000 Euros of hard-earned money in a wink! Users of inter-urban buses have similar stories to tell.

But the only way out is vigilance and carrying the posture of caution each time one finds himself in the midst of strange people.

In as much as our Africa culture promotes hospitality to strangers the price to pay is becoming too much to bare and many must bear with those who show reticence at even honest acts of companionship.

It is also the responsibility of the bus companies to take security concerns further. Many of these culprits get away with such offenses simply because of the absence of tractability; because if the passengers were properly identified and assigned to specific seats at the time of boarding, then the task of tracing them is simply defeated.

If there were such checks, they will even think twice before indulging in such practices simply because of the risk of being identified later. However, to avoid all the legal and administrative intricacies involved after the commission of a crime, the best way is to remain cautious and alert.