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  dorpus, 18 Feb 2005 @ 11:31am

  
  

  Which country?

  There are countries whose economies were destroyed by fraud. In the wake of the Cold War, ponzi schemes went around Albania, and gullible post-socialist Albanians depleted their savings. Back at the turn of the century, the French invested vast sums in the Panama Canal, encouraging many individual investors to "serve their patriotic duty", but the project went bust, and Americans took over. It severely damaged the French economy at the time. Some "bankers" in African countries today run a lucrative trade hauling suitcases full of strange banknotes from country to country. In the South Pacific, the private-sector economies of Nauru and Tuvalu consist largely of fradulent mail-order businesses or web hosting of porn sites. About 99% of Japanese porn sites are hosted out of the two islands. If there was concerted international action to crack down on them, you'd have islands full of refugees with flies buzzing around their eyes -- then it's the turn of "charity" hucksters to cash in on such imagery.
  
  

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    jock, 21 Feb 2005 @ 3:46am

    
    

    Re: Which country?

    Don't forget Scotland - the Darien project bankrupted the country and hastened the union with england.

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  Mark R Coppock, 19 Feb 2005 @ 8:12am

  
  

  Economic advantage from fraud?

  There's no economic advantage from fraud merely because some security firms are gaining revenue from combatting it. The money that is spent on overcoming a destructive force, like fraud (or a hurricane), is money that could have been spend on something productive.

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