I won’t dismiss them as “victimless” crimes, even though they are, in the sense that the victims willingly gave of their money voluntarily, and not under any coercion, force, or fear.

And I believe that these capricious prosecutions represent an arbitrary application of law that represents a vanishingly small problem not worthy of federal attention whilst ignoring endemic ones that occur on a far greater scale in perpetuity across the country.

Because, under the same legal theory, the government should be over-zealously prosecuting and threatening with draconian punishments, all of the many street beggars who falsely claim to be homeless/indigent/veterans/family heads/sick/disabled, via their signs. Many intersections in citiyes and towns across the US are staffed on a regular basis by professional beggars, many of whom are NOT actually poor or needy. This is a problem at least 1000 times as prevalent and probably 10,000 times the magnitude of this woman’s fake fundraiser.

But due to the federal law, this scam doesn’t qualify under federal law because it isn’t using electronic communications. In every other respect, it is no different. Not in the falseness of the claims, the intent, or the outcome. In fact, some fake street beggars are raking in an annual haul in excess of what she obtained over the course of seven years.

Fake beggary is a chronic problem that has been documented in history and literature for hundreds, even thousands of years, due to the natural tendencies of humans to be conniving and avaricious and deceitful in order to take advantage of the natural (and artificially induced – mostly through organized religion – which is another major scam that involves telling lies to people to persuade them to willingly part with their money – don’t get me started on that)…. tendencies towards compassion, charity, and altruism.

This is essentially the human condition – opposite forces of human nature which are endlessly contesting for dominance and equilibrium. This simply isn’t a problem any law can remedy. These sorts of social ills have their genesis in the realm of the make believe – in the mind – where laws have no force.

If you get scammed by fake charities, then that should be a signal that you didn’t do any work to verify the legitimacy of the charity. And a better question, is why you think giving your money to these things is a proper course of action? Are you doing it because you genuinely support the mission or simply because you feel better about yourself? And to that extent, if you ARE doing it to simply improve your image either in your own eyes or those of others (virtue signalling), then there is no way for you to be defrauded – you feel better regardless of whether the money is actually accomplishing anything or if the mission is fake or not.

Does the law take this dynamic into account? Of course it doesn’t. The law falls totally short of comprehending the human condition, let alone being capable of addressing it in any effective fashion.

David S. Wall