On the civil side of legal practice there is the writ of injunction
to prevent threatened irreparable injury to property by one person to
another. But in case of organized fraud upon the public in general our
modern legislatures have not yet grown to the proper appreciation of
the wise and ancient saying that comes from the orient, "The rat hole,
not the rat, is the thief." Our laws punish the thief when caught, but
leave the "hole" intact and ready to give shelter to other "rats."
The authorities may know well the fraudulent character of a concern
organized and existing for the express purpose of fleecing the public,
and yet, in the absence of a complaining victim, they are absolutely
helpless and unable to prevent victims from being ensnared by that
concern.
Suppose the legislature would enact a law making it a felony for
persons to set in operation any scheme to defraud the public and fix
adequate punishment for such offense, would not such a law enable the
authorities to anticipate and prevent a great deal of that misery
which is caused by organized frauds of all kinds and descriptions, to
a class of people that least can afford it?