Swindlers want to profit from Sept.11 attacks

Swindlers line their pockets from the Sept.11 tragedy. At the time when some people are in trouble, the others are eager to profit from it. It is a proved fact, that is topical for practically any time and any society. The USA is not an exception here as well.

RosBusinessConsulting news agency informs, 23 people have been detained in New York on suspicion of stealing the money compensations to families of the killed during the Sept.11 terror acts. The people passed themselves off as relatives of the terror victims and demanded for compensations from public funds or charitable organizations. The New York police says, fifteen of the detained presented forged documents, that were designed to confirm the death of alleged relatives. The rest eight people had no documents at all. They managed to get compensations without any documents. As a result of the fraud the people managed to get a sum total of $760,000. The people who really suffered in the Sept.11 terror attacks have been deprived of the money.

If the guilt of the detained is proved, severe punishment of up to 15 years of imprisonment will be imposed on them. It is not ruled out, such frauds will not stop soon. There are always enough people who wish to get easy money.

We experienced almost the same problem here in Russia after the Kursk sub crash in August of 2000. No facts about swindlers who wanted to get compensations with forged documents were published. But misusage of money from the charitable funds had been revealed at that. Not whole sums of he money transferred from abroad and different parts of Russia to the funds for compensations were paid to relatives of the dead. A part of the sum was spent on so-called “organization expenses”, such as book publishing, etc. Relatives of the dead were so much indignant at the fact.

The authorities of a remote settlement in the Urals region even expected to improve the poor situation in the area with the money designed for the compensation to the mother of one of the dead submariners. The Russian authorities managed to establish order with payment of compensations rather quickly. The sub crash produced a great resonance in the society, that probably prevented more frauds with the money designed for compensations to families of the dead. It is an open secret, many people face problems with receiving of compensations for injuries caused by different disasters.

Not only swindlers can be mentioned as the reason of the problem. To have compensations for injuries caused in disasters and catastrophes purposefully transferred, an effective public control is to be introduced over the process. Otherwise, swindlers will continues lining their pockets from people’s sorrows.

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/03/22/38628.html