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I have just completed talking to my bank. Someone tried to use my credit card to buy a new computer. Thankfully, the bank called me to check on this purchase, or they would have charged 1,000.00 to my card. Everyone reading this, I am warning you: fraud. I have spent hours on the phone calling companies with automatic payment, and hours looking for a phone number to reach them. All I wanted was to give them a security card, but it was frustrating to reach a human being to tell them the new card numbers because most streaming companies no longer have phones. My wish for everyone, after this tortured afternoon of banks, calls, and password resets, is: BE CAREFUL. Ordering internet is not as secure as it used to be. This is the third time since Christmas that I have had to cancel credit cards and have new ones sent.
Why would I start this article in an anxiety-ridden state and disgusted with myself for being so trusting or so stupid as to be taken this way? I cannot believe how selling has changed. Fraud is everywhere; I feel the Internet has become a minefield of fraud and deception. What does this say about us as human beings living in human times?
I was thinking of the Ten Commandments. Yes, there are only ten; the first four are about honoring God, our creator. The next six are literally how to live in community with other people.
The Ten Commandments ( Exodus 20:1-17)
1. You shall have no other gods before Me
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol (or graven image)
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
5. Honor your father and your mother
6. You shall not murder
7. You shall not commit adultery
8. You shall not steal
9. You shall not give false testimony (lie) against your neighbor
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, or possession
Can you see how these break down into a plan for living with God and other human beings? The one I am looking at is Thou shalt not steal, number 8. What happened that taking what
doesn’t belong to you became OK? What happened to treating people with respect? To be honest, sometimes today the customer is as much a fraudster as the company. People have taken advantage of business. People have lied, misrepresented situations, or exploited programs meant for those in true need.
My complaint is that we misrepresented or lied to get something we had no right to. In short, they stole something that wasn’t theirs to begin with. Theft does not seem to bother people today. If we can get away with fraud, it is perfectly fine to do it; why? We don't see it as stealing; we see it as a right. There is no conscience, nothing that makes us feel guilty. I have heard slogans in the media and online that promote stealing. The premise is that some people have too much and I have too little, so I’ll take or steal what they have because I need it more. California recently had shoplifting up to 900 dollars allowed, because the people stealing did not have the advantages or privileged lifestyle of those who could afford to buy it. Stealing was tolerated, and the legal institutions did not prosecute or punish. How do you live in this kind of society? How do you build a society forward on this kind of thinking?
That said, stealing, cheating, and lying are all connected. My thoughts are that we have a pool of fraud committed by people who don’t see the truth. The truth of the Ten Commandments, of respecting others and their property, is no longer the standard rule of what we expect in ordinary living. The concept of stealing has changed because the truth is no longer the norm. The truth is whatever you want it to be. I steal because I can; I steal because you are rich and I can't afford it; I steal because it gives me a lifestyle; I steal because it gives me goods that make me rich. The command to respect and to see your fellow people in community as bound by these rules is no longer valid.
Internet fraud is only one obvious place we see the breakdown of community and a global understanding of truth. It is sad that many people today do not know what the truth is, because of the blur of stealing, lying, and fraud that surrounds us. The Ten Commandments are not outdated; they are timeless.