Caveat Emptor: Let the Buyer Beware

Much has been written lately about the various scams taking place in Costa Rica. But, to be fair scams, both on the Internet and elsewhere, are running rampant in countries throughout the globe. Due, in a limited part, to the sagging global economy, and otherwise unscrupulous, unethical predators who seem to increasingly prey on expats who are blindsided by opportunities that appear to be too good to be true. I remember the old adage: there is no such thing as a free lunch. And it holds ever more true to this infectious, seemlingly pandemic of white collar and blue crime growing worldwide.

But the real issue here seems not in reliance on local, regional, or even international jurisdictions but, in fact, ourselves, and our need to create an ongoing social networking that not only reveals such lawlessness, but by its very existence, further aids in the elimination, or reduction, in such opportunistic travesties.

Never before has the Latin warning “Caveat Emptor” been more fitting than now. And with a global economy that seems to dwindle day by day, it seems that present-day consumers need not only stand careful watch over their budgets, but also their business dealings – foreign or domestic.