Microsoft Word - ECCU Creative Youth Competition Essay KAH

As good as a cashless society may seem, there is a negative side to it for the Caribbean.

On a global scale, getting rid of cash and moving to cyber purchases, has led to an increase in

cybercrime. This suggests that getting rid of cash did not eradicate crime but caused a crime

shift. Demographics of the offenders and victims have changed from people in bad

neighborhoods and living standards to virtually anybody. People who may not have had the

physical ability or be bold enough to commit these crimes in the real word, may be completely

comfortable with committing them over the internet. Financial fraud, cyberterrorism and

cyberextortion are all examples of the type of crimes that arise due to the movement of money

from physical cash to the digital world. Electronic payments would severely challenge the liberty

of people by allowing a person’s income and expenditure to be monitored by the government.

There are some that would not mind this, but on a larger scale people enjoy the sense of privacy

and the stride to a cashless society will strip them of privacy in this sense.

The less-formal business sectors of the economy in the Caribbean would be hurt severely

by the removal of cash from society. These small enterprises and individuals provide all sorts

of goods and services and are responsible for a fair amount of money that informally enters the

economy (Jessop, 2016). The same goods and services tourists take advantage of when they visit

the islands of the Caribbean, and many locals enjoy on a day to day basis such as fast food

places, ice cream shops, souvenir vendors, arts and crafts, etc. Some people who work are paid

only through tips of cash, so their source of income will be directly affected. The very idea of

a cashless society potentially threatens to leave small economies like us behind, where several

citizens are unbanked and operate their life without the use of credit and debit cards. West

Indians are known to be somewhat more resistant to change and very complacent, so with this

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