life as a Fraud officer

For eight  years

I worked as a fraud officer

Combating visa and passport fruad

Back when I worked

As a US diplomat.

In Mumbai

There was so much fraud

But we often had not choice

But to hold our noise

And issue the visas.

In Spain not as much

But still quite a bit.

I learned the hard way

So many people

Are con men and women.

Lying, cheating

To get what they want.

One learned to not take it personally

Just part of the job

Working in a broken down visa system.

Where if the client has a good lawyer

And the paperwork looked legit

They would prevail.

And so the constant games

The lies and deceit continued

To this day.

I became so cynical

About people

But detecting fraud

Was like playing detective.

Once in a while

We were able to deny

A visa.

When the fraudulent activity

Was too blantant to ignore.