Egypt is witnessing a wave of (new) crime, coinciding with a severe economic crisis. Inflation hit a five-year high of 32% in February, having reached 26% in January, according to the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
These figures show a dramatic breakdown of the Egyptian economy, certainly given that prior predictions had indicated a 1% inflation rate. Hungry and exhausted, many Egyptians can no longer meet their daily needs.
Egypt’s baffling economic policies, which saw the country receive billions of dollars in loans, while wasting huge amounts on building cities in the desert, is greatly affecting people’s livelihoods.
Egyptian media have called for the consumption of donkey meat, powder eggs, and chicken from unknown sources as an alternative to beef, fresh eggs, and farm-raised chicken, the prices of which have skyrocketed.
Begging, Stealing, Robbing
As a result, begging has spread immensely in Egypt, while bickering over commodities even at relatively low prices has escalated. The infamous “Consumer Cooperatives’ Shop Queues” have returned to buy government-subsidized chicken at a marginally reduced price.
The queues extend to the so-called “Ahlan Ramadan” exhibitions, held under supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade. Occasionally, these queues descend into fighting, as recently happened at an exhibit in Damietta Governorate.
Theft of commodities was never very common in Egypt. But the current state of poverty and misery has given rise to this and other unusual incidents.
In Dakahlia Governorate, for example, one man stole 112,000 EP (some US$ 3,000 dollars) from a store. He did so, despite the surveillance cameras that spotted him. After his arrest, he claimed he had used the stolen money to buy two cows. He slaughtered them to give the meat, as well as a significant amount of rice and potatoes, to the poor of his village.
During the investigation, he vowed to pay back the store owner. As a true Robin Hood, he believed his deed would bring him great rewards and atone for his sins.
In an armed robbery in New Damietta City, a masked three-member gang stole 1.4 million EP (about US$ 46,000) from a government post office despite the presence of a nearby police station.
Theft and fraud have spread widely on Egypt’s streets, whereby new patterns have emerged, such as stealing tires from parked cars at night, and the removal of manhole covers, railway tracks, and metal doors, which are sold as scrap iron.
The media are reluctant to talk about the rise in crime to prevent the spread of fear or raise doubts regarding the capabilities of Egypt’s security forces. Yet, the recent heist of football star Mohamed Salah’s villa, despite the presence of private security guards, has raised concerns about robberies elsewhere.
A Historical Perspective
Such crimes are directly linked to the catastrophic economic situation. The government is scaling down subsidies, pushing Egyptians to become fully self-reliant, which has caused people to lose faith in the state and its capacity to provide for them and save them from famine.
This raises the threat of a hunger revolution or bread riot, similar to the one in 1977 under the late Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat. Cutting state subsidies on basic foodstuffs, as proposed at the time by the World Bank and IMF, led to massive protests and clashes. Some 80 people were killed, over 500 injured and 1,200 arrested.
“The 1977 bread riots were preceded by similar events as today,” said Dr. Mohamed Sabry, professor of history at Helwan University. “There was a spike in crime rates and a rise in unusual crime. Egyptian society witnessed the theft of petty objects, including basic foodstuffs, which was one of the reasons Sadat spoke of ‘the uprising of thieves.’”
“In difficult times, we see the occurrence of strange, bizarre and inventive crimes to the point where we find it hard to believe that anyone could do such a thing,” Sabry continued. “Everyone is looking after one’s self-interest and disregarding the interests of others. People are no longer embarrassed to do anything to make money, even if it hurts others and violates values and traditions. This is what we are seeing right now.”
“We see young people wearing normal, not worn-out clothes begging in the streets, without shame,” he said. “We receive unusual text messages on our phones with the aim of theft. And we see a revival of the ‘mestryeheen’ (conmen).”
Homicide and Suicide
“Historically, domestic homicide and suicide also show an increase when society experiences such sharp economic divides,” Sabry said.. “And Egyptian society is currently suffering from both these tragedies.”
A simple Google search with the keywords “father kills” and “Egypt” reveals an alarming level of domestic crime. This includes a father who strangled his daughter in Bani Suef with a scarf and a son beating his father to death. One story, which dominated Egyptian social media for days, featured a man who shot dead seven members of his family, including his wife and children, after a marital dispute.
According to the study Domestic Violence Against Egyptian Women by researcher Rajaa Abdel Wadoud, especially wives bear the negative consequences of the increased economic pressure on the average Egyptian family. Poverty can drive family members to commit crimes, especially when they are unable to meet such basic needs as food and housing through legitimate means.
The Rise of the Conman
Inflation and the Egyptian pound’s greatly diminished purchasing power is driving many people to look for unconventional ways to preserve or invest their money. This includes looking for a social umbrella other than the state, which can no longer protect citizens rights and ensure a decent living.
This has helped enable the rise of the “Mestryeh” (conman), who collects sums of money from citizens in poor areas, which he promises to invest against a guaranteed return. The “Mestryeh” has become a concept encompassing all kinds of individuals who deceive people by claiming they can “turn dirt into gold.”
What helps to create the deception is the conman’s sudden wealth, which tempts depositors who wish to become like them. Villagers and residents of poor areas hand over money, livestock and possessions, which may even include their wives’ jewelry, as investigations into these scams have revealed.
People put their trust in these con artists posing as investors, who guarantee returns of up to 100% within a two-month window. This is something no legitimate business or bank in Egypt can offer. Due to such unrealistic financial promises, these schemers are in some villages ironically known as “the bank.”
Of course, their promises are never met. When the deadline approaches, they simply close their phones, disappear and flee.
In the past few weeks, several Egyptian con artists have been exposed. They received huge sums of money from depositors, and vanished. The situation has shifted from remote areas and villages, such as As-Sanṭah in Gharbia Governorate, to more upscale neighborhoods like Nasr City, which indicates “the business” is expanding to include the (upper) middle class.
“Clingers”
According to new terminology circulating on social mediaIt, there is a group of people these days known as “clingers,”. They are people struggling to maintain their middle-class status by all means necessary. They replace such luxuries as taking a taxi to work by riding a bus. And instead of dining in a restaurant near their workplace, they bring a lunch box prepared at home.
These changes indicate a process of social decline, even though this decline does not have as strong an impact on “clingers,” as it has on the lower classes. The latter may have fallen below the poverty line or were already suffering under the poverty line.
At the end of last year, when the inflation rate started to increase, economic indicators estimated that some 29% of Egyptians lived below the poverty line. According to the Financial Times, that number has more than doubled this year, as some 60% of Egyptians now below the poverty line due to the rise in the cost of living.
Still, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has loaned Egypt billions of dollars in the past few years, is pressing for “a further reduction in the price of the Egyptian pound and the role of the state in supporting citizens.”
It is expected this will lead to a further devaluation of the Egyptian pound and an even higher inflation rate, which in turn will trigger new patterns of crime ranging from assault to robbery and fraud.
The HoggPool Cryptocurrency Scam
Due to the crisis, many Egyptians are searching for alternative ways to protect their savings or help them cope with the high cost of living. This is what prompted some 800,000 Egyptians to join the online HoggPool cryptocurrency mining scam.
For months the platform presented itself as a more glitzy and structured take on the “Mestryeh” concept. It managed to attract numerous Egyptians to take part, who often did so with modest financial contributions. At first, some gains were made, and the sums increased, until the HoggPool platform had amassed some 6 billion Egyptian pounds (some US$ 200 million) at which point the owners simply closed shop and vanished in thin air.
One of the victims of the HoggPool scam is Nader El Mahi. He claimed it all began with selling a mining machine for about US$ 10, which in just 20 days generated a profit of some US$ 20. El Mahi then received more financial offers promising to make more profits in shorter periods.
“Many people rushed into speculation hoping to multiply profits,” El Mahi told Daraj. “They were seducing us with the prospect of quick wealth, since each of us had suffered losses and tried to cope with the high cost of living, which transferred many of us from one class to another. It pushed us to search for a second and even third job just to cover our living expenses.”
“HoggPool did not ask for exorbitant amounts of money,” he continued. “Later we discovered this was part of the plan to attract the largest possible number of people through network marketing. I also invited friends to participate, considering that 1,000 Egyptian pounds was not a huge sum, and it would certainly double. But in the end we all lost all our money.”
According to El Mahi some people sold their gold, land, even homes to participate, without fear that the app was just the latest “Mestryeh” in a digital form. And also because HoggPool had a commercial record, an official headquarters, phone numbers for money transfers, and individuals who communicated with the victims.
Political Security
According to the economist Dr. Rashad Abdo, most victims of HoggPool and similar apps are “greedy and swindlers.”
“Taking part in applications that promise to generate enormous earnings for their users will not pose a threat to the Egyptian economy,” he told Daraj. “But it is risky for those who will end up poorer as a result. They are not only victims of high inflation, but also lose their money in unsafe speculation.”
Abdo expected such applications to continue to proliferate in the digital sphere, despite the fall of the HoggPool gang. For two reasons. First, the economic crisis continues to drive people to invest their money in any way possible with little reservation and risk calculation, just to survive, as has been shown in experiments across the world and throughout history.
Second, the weak security network, which does not monitor markets and fraud as required. Those in charge of security in Egypt are more concerned with protecting the political status quo and arresting political rivals rather than ensuring public safety.
This has created a climate for crime, which includes last year’s killing of student Naira Ashraf, as well as all sorts of business scams.
The crypto app’s theft of some 6 billion Egyptian pounds caused a serious uproar. In mid-March, Egyptian police reportedly arrested 29 individuals connected to the scam, seizing 95 mobile phones, 3,367 sim cards and some US$ 194,000 in cash. Yet, so far, none of the victims have seen any funds returned.
Shortly after, another mining blockchain app called GSG was closed. Like HoggPool it had managed to defraud a large number of Egyptian citizens since January 2021.
The economic crisis in Egypt has reached an untenable level as most Egyptians have lost their savings due to inflation, deflation and their inability to revolt, as the security apparatus chases anyone who raises a dissenting voice, rather than thieves and criminals squeezing the last dime out of people already poor.
