Subhumans.

My mum's being robbed. Or something. There are strange discrepancies on her credit card statements. Small amounts, unusual insurances appearing from nowhere. It's very odd. She claims to have no knowledge of them - which is very likely - but its hard to imagine who would really profit from either the deception/ unnecessary insurance coverage. 

 

Regardless, she's handed all her financial concerns over to my brother, and its going to prove rather more difficult to cheat her in the future. Though I don't doubt there are scammers out there - agile go-getters in a dog-eat-dog business world, who will try to find a way. Surely its these savvy and resilient entrepreneurs the government should be rewarding? In a society that sees only the value of commerce, of greed, of rapacious privateering, surely the fleecing of poor old women is fair game?

I do wonder how these people feel after each successful grift. Once their bland lies and tenacity have borne fruit, once they've successfully shafted another vulnerable person for a few quid, or perhaps quite a lot of quids, what are they thinking? Are they punching the air? A job well done. I'll make my quota this month - time to sink a few cold ones with the boys. Or is it hatred? Do they despise the confused, the trusting, those who have never negotiated with this sort of  banal, corporate evil before. 

Do they love shilling the rubes? Is it their own fault for being so guileless? Do they deserve it? Or do these pricks even think about it at all? Its just a job. Its just money, and why should these stupid old people have any anyway? It's a waste - they don't even spend it! It's killing the economy. Old people are worse than Covid. Lets get those coffers open, get things a bit more liquid. 

My brother found out. He nipped it in the bud, and very little money was leeched off. I think a lot of it will be refunded and the fraud is being investigated. The boy done good. Even through this last year of Covid, Annie has never really been alone - though she's definitely felt it, loneliness has gnawed at her - but my brothers and sister have been looking after things. I've not, stuck here on the moon. I've been well out of it. I get a rather rosier view of events from my phone-calls with Annie. 

I rang her today and asked her what was going on, and she seemed disinclined to talk about it. "When I'm talking to you I only want to talk about the fun stuff." She then went on to laugh at the very notion of there being any "fun stuff" to talk about. But she finds it. She keeps the energy up and so do I. We laugh on the phone more than we ever did, because I think we're both so amazed it has come to this. Our lives are so ridiculous. 

I'm going to see her in person next month. That's the plan. I'm steeling myself for the non-fun stuff.