The great SAWA rip-off is being slowly unraveled as thousands of people here are quickly finding themselves victims of a well-organized fraud. SAWA, for those who may not know it, is a phone card used for charging up credits to mobile phones.

I came to hear of this quick rich scheme sometimes back in the background of a well laid out scenario. The story told to me went as follows: Some “so and so” was given a grant for 10 million free SAWA cards. Naturally, he wanted the cash instead. It just isn’t easy to eat up so many credits in making phone calls, regardless of who and what you are, or how much influence you have.

He in turn disposed off the cards which are nominally sold at SR95 each at most outlets for SR77 each, pocketing a cool SR77 million for his tireless effort, and went about his merry way. His clients were a couple of sharks who figuring they had a gold mine in their hands, quickly went about the task of getting these cards in the market and raking in the profits.

But 10 million cards aren’t easy to sell without a well laid out distribution network. And it wasn’t long before these sharks found several buyers who quickly bought it off them for SR80 each, resulting in a handful of pocket change in the neighborhood of SR180 million for these two wise men.

Apparently some of these buyers found ways to dispose off the cards they had purchased and with healthy profits. But not content with the wealth they had amassed in such a short time and with such little effort, they wanted more.

And that is probably where the con game began.

They contacted individuals at some large companies and sold them the scheme of selling them shares in this profitable business, on the condition that the individuals would solicit for more shareholders within their domain in what would become a very large business indeed. The money earned by these shadow outfits would in turn be used to buy up more SAWA cards from STC through reliable contacts, which would sell it to them at SR85 each.

Remember, you the final customer forks out SR95 for each one of these charge cards.

All an individual had to do was purchase shares valued at SR8500 each and would be guaranteed a minimum of SR1500 weekly on each share. And with such easy profits racing through the minds of the gullible, it didn’t take much to convince thousands upon thousands of folks into forking out money and not miss out in becoming rich.

Yes, there were individuals who were earning SR1500 per share on a weekly basis and this went on for several weeks. Reinforced by such a windfall, they in turn persuaded family and friends to join in. But unknown to them, it was being funded by the newer shareholders, ever so eager not to miss an opportunity of a lifetime.

Greed overtook judgment, as property and jewelry was sold, loans were taken out, all for the sake of snapping up these shares. Was STC indeed selling these cards at SR85 in bulk or not was not thoroughly investigated by the investors? Some investors claim they had seen a photocopy of a contract between their principal shareholders and STC. Others were content to take the word of family members and associates. No documents were signed and attested between the sellers and the buyers. And they were all sucked in.

As every pyramid scheme is eventually bound to bloat up and blow, this one did just that about three weeks ago. That is when the first stirrings of trouble began. There were no weekly payments, and those who had invested their life savings or who had borrowed money to get in were suddenly left in a gut-wrenching crisis. Hoping against hope, they snapped up any excuse to allay their fears that they were victimized. But as suspicions spread out, new investors quickly dried up, leaving no means to pay up these victims.

And so they turned against those who persuaded them to join in this scheme. But as is it started being traced upwards, reminders were thrown that there were no documented contracts, and investors should have known they were taking a risk. And this is how it all seems to have mushroomed.

Now what I find a bit strange is that STC, our monopolistic phone company, has not been up front about this whole issue. Do such contracts really exist? Is STC selling SAWA cards to preferred customers at such low prices, thus encouraging fraud? The authorities have woken up and begun to take notice, and time will tell who and what is behind all of this. In the meantime, suckers will just have to observe Ramadan in despair.

In New York, they have the Brooklyn Bridge. In Saudi Arabia, we have our own, and it is called SAWA.