I grew up amid the low-country marshes of South Carolina. Mosquitos, fiddler crabs, and tidal creeks everywhere. There was this thing we called “gigging.” We used tridents to spear bottom feeders in the swampy waters.

I didn’t like stabbing flounder and the other fish. Or wading through pluff mud, which has the consistency of watery bread dough. You’d sink to your knees and have no idea what you hit on the way down. But the truth is, I’ve done it. I’ve been gigging.

Nobody in Charleston ever said, “Gig ’em.” We were “gigging.” The gerund, the “ing” tense, is the only verb I recall. Nevertheless, I’ve always felt a special affinity for the fight slogan of Texas A&M. Aggies say, “Gig ’em” with broad smiles and their thumbs turned up. It’s been a great slogan.

Until now.

The New York Times reported a fraud, spearheaded (forgive the expression) by a Houston lawyer and a professor from Texas A.&M.’s Mays Business School. “Gig ’em” reminds me of what we did to the fish. No offense intended to my Aggie readers. I respect your school and like your teams.

But I don’t like recurring incidents of fraud. They can be prevented. Let’s break down the article:

NYT: The two defendants “raised more than $19 million from investors since 2006 by promoting their ability to earn profits by using foreign-currency trading software they called Alpha One, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement.”

Acrimoney: “Alpha One” is a catchy name. It sounds hip and mysterious, like the “split-strike conversions” used by Madoff.

NYT: The defendants “produced records showing that an account at Deutsche Bank earned more than $2 million for their firm, Private FX Global One Ltd., the S.E.C. said in a suit filed at federal court in Houston. But the firm did not have an account at Deutsche Bank, the regulator said.”

Acrimoney: The charge is fraud. There was no Ponzi scheme.

NYT: “ ‘These defendants used modern technology to create professional-looking, bogus documents that supported their extraordinary claims,’ Rose Romero, director of the S.E.C.’s Fort Worth office, said in the statement.”

Acrimoney: Here’s where I get angry. The two men generated their own statements. If regulators mandate two sets, one from the custodians and one from the money managers, such frauds cannot exist.

Two sets of financial statements create a check and balance. They send a message to fraudsters, “You may fool people for a while. But you’ll be caught the minute a monthly statement fails to arrive from a custodian.”

Back to the slogans, fight songs, and other ways to rally: We only need one for financial fraud. Here’s what I suggest.