A first point:

With the co-operation of the banks we could catch a great many of these scammers - so many that we would need a new kind of prison system where prisoners had to work for their living.

All you need is for each bank-account holder to have a second account - an account with a number that is apparently a normal account but in fact is an account to direct scammers to. The fraud squad are then informed when the scammer tries to access it - and as the account has no funds the scammer gets nothing and can be nicked whilst witing for the non-existent funds to arrive in their account.


So why not open a bank account with no funds and no overdraft facility and go from there?