THE EDITOR, Madam:
Seldom does a week pass when I am not tormented by a scammer. They sound polite, and professional. One called me telling me a cock and bull story about some money that is available to me from some class-action suit. I gave him fictitious data, like mailing address, verifying other demographics; I was asked for a credit card number to pay the taxes and processing fee. I told the young man, “Yardie, put it on your card for me , subtract it from the winnings, take a tip and send me the change.” All of a sudden the accent disappeared, the courtesies went through the window, and I was showered with a barrage of some colourful, old-fashioned Jamaican expletives.
It seems to me the harder law enforcement tries to plug the scamming hole, the braver, fiercer and more cunning they become. It’s strange that with all the public service advertisements that there would be rational people who become victims of scamming. These scammers pretend to be agents of high-tech companies, tax agencies, lottery games, car insurance companies and debt-collecting agencies offering winnings to people who have had no engagements with these entities. Yet they would pay fees to earn, where they did no work. It is a difficult task, but I believe the police and tech companies need to do more to stop these scams.
It is so sad that Jamaica has become the capital of scamming in the Americas. It is even more painful to see that the youth are involved in scamming….
