November 2004 Topics
Dorodoko, Kill the Messenger,
Ore Ore Sagi, and Zombie Debt
 

Ancient Statues Warn Against
Bribery at the Olympic Games
 

Fraud In Other Words: Professional Jargon and Uncensored Street Slang
By Larry C. Adams, CFE, CPA, CIA, CISA
 

Dorodoko (δωροδοκώ)
The Greek word for bribe. Apparently white-chiton crimes were common long before white-collar crimes. A chiton is a tunic worn by Greeks. Corruption charges regularly disgraced the contenders at the Olympic Games in ancient Greece. Some trainers lent money to their own athletes to pay bribes, and charged hefty rates of interest against the value of future prizes. The first recorded bribery scandal occurred in 388 B.C., when Eubulus of Thessaly paid a dorodoko to three boxers to throw their fights against him. The convicted boxers were charged heavy fines, which financed the first six of sixteen Zanes (statues of Zeus) erected at Olympia. The statues were inscribed with moral poems to show that athletes win with the speed of their feet and the strength of their body, not with money. Fifty years later, Kallippos of Athens paid his opponents to lose in the pentathlon. A huge fine was levied against Athens. The city refused to pay and it boycotted the Games, until the Delphic oracle threatened to withhold any more prophecies. Rather than risk the wrath of Zeus, Athens paid the fine to erect another six statues. The emperor Nero competed in the Olympic chariot race in 67 A.D. He paid each purple-robed judge a dorodoko of 250,000 silver drachmas (Greek coins equivalent to US$5.5 million today). Nero was thrown from his ten-horse rig and failed to finish the course, but the three judges declared him the victor anyway. Nero was murdered in Rome in the following year. His name was removed from the Olympic victors’ list, and the judges were ordered to pay back their bribes.
Tony Perrottet, “The Naked Olympics”, Random House Trade Paperbacks, New York, 2004, pages 13, 17, 85, 97, 98, 102, and 190.
 

Kill the Messenger (Shoot the Messenger, Silence the Messenger)
To punish the bearer of bad news, even though the person has done no more than deliver the information. While the messenger is not the cause of the bad tidings, he or she is the one within reach. The concept comes from Sophocles who wrote, “None love the messenger who brings bad tidings,” in his Greek tragedy about “Antigone” (442 B.C.) Whistleblowers and journalists take huge personal and professional risks when they disclose fraudulent activities and cover-ups. Often they are harassed, fired, or forced to resign.
Elizabeth Webber and Mike Feinsilber, “Dictionary of Allusions,” Merriam-Webster, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1999, pages 303 and 304.
 

Ore Ore Sagi
“It’s me!” fraud. Ore is an informal Japanese word for a man referring to himself. Sagi is a Japanese word for fraud. Ore ore sagi swindles people for nonexistent problems. To start the scam, the fraudster dials a random telephone number and says, “Ore ore!” (It’s me, it’s me!) He pretends to be the child or grandchild of the person who answers the phone. He explains that he has an emergency and is in desperate need of money to pay for an expensive car repair, a medical expense from a traffic accident, an abortion, or a gambling debt. Japan is a cash society and debt holds great shame. The fraudster begs the person to make a large bank transfer into a specified account. After a victim transfers the funds, the greedy con man might call again to ask for more money. Prepaid cell phones are used to hide the identity of the caller. He blames injuries or bad phone connections for making his voice sound unfamiliar. Ore ore sagi works like spam – the fraudster makes a lot of calls and hopes to find a few suckers. A preferred target is senile elderly people who don’t see their relatives often. Four thousand victims were squeezed out of 2.3 billion Japanese yen (US$22 million) in 2003. Police received reports of a thousand incidents per month in 2004. Some fraudsters were 20-to-25-year-old men who quit their jobs as loan sharks because the “It’s me!” fraud was more profitable. Other imposters were 60-to-70-years-old.
Ed Jacob, “Stuff They Don’t Teach You in Japanese School – The Criminal’s Dictionary,” Japanzine, http://www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/~edjacob/
danger%20dictionary.htm, July 1, 2004.
Image: http://www.bigempire.com/sake/fraud.html.
 

Zombie Debt (Junk Debt)
Old debt that was written off as uncollectible and exceeds the state or federal statute of limitations, the amount of time a creditor can sue over an old debt. Zombie debt worth US$75 billion was sold in 2002 to collection agencies that use credit scoring and search software to identify which debtors are most likely to pay if they are squeezed. Aggressive debt-buying companies pay one to seven cents on the dollar for the inactive accounts, including credit card accounts that may be three to twenty years old. They try to bring new life to these dead accounts by threatening to file new lawsuits. Their widespread abusive tactics may violate the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They try to illegally “re-age” bad debts on credit reports by telling the credit bureaus that the old debts are new, and try to extend the seven-year limit on reporting negative items. They might offer bait-and-switch credit cards that offer low interest rates and then tack the zombie debt onto the balance of the new cards without adequately disclosing the condition and try to extend of the statute of limitations. Also the collectors might inform the Internal Revenue Service that the original debtors received income in the form of discharged debts.
Liz Pulliam Weston, “Zombie Debt Collectors Dig Up Your Old Mistakes,” MSN Money, http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/
Savinganddebt/Managedebt/P74812.asp, July 4, 2004.
 

ã Copyright 2004 Larry C. Adams.
All rights reserved.
 

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