Mixing up the words "if" and "when" is a typical German mistake when speaking or writing English.Both translate to the German word "wenn". "if" can also mean "falls", and "when" can also mean "als". But when(!) you have the German word "wenn" it can be either. Sometimes it MUST be "if", sometimes it MUST be "when", sometimes the choice is yours.
Only after publishing my rewritten and/or corrected versions of all lyrics that I have written so far I discovered two mistakes regarding "if" versus "when". As for "scavengers" I'm still not even quite sure, but I wanted to alter the text anyway because I was not happy with rhyming "crossed" with "robbed" so I used this opportunity to eliminate any doubts regarding "if" and "when" as well. In "call a spade a spade" it should have been "if" from the beginning - the "when" was clearly a mistake, since I use the word in a condition. I'm checking the other lyrics at the moment.