Lasco upgrading software to fight lotto scammers

BY STEVEN JACKSON Business reporter jacksons@jamaicaobserver.com

Friday, October 10, 2014    

LASCO Financial, which offers cambio and remittance services, will this month fortify its MoneyGram network with two software upgrades to block lotto scammers and improve its analytics.

It’s the latest remittance company to move against criminals following the much publicised lockdown by rival Western Union in 2012.

“It’s a remittance software done by MoneyGram which allows us to manage Lotto scamming. So it will offer customer relationship management and give us the opportunity to offer loyalty cards as well,” stated Lasco Financial Managing Director Jacinth Hall-Tracey in her address to shareholders at the annual general meeting held September 30 at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

Lasco Financial, a primary agent for MoneyGram International in Jamaica, provides a network of 90 sub-agents in Jamaica. It also provides MoneyGram services in five Unicomer Courts Furniture Store branches in Barbados.

“So we are adding two software [programs] in October and I do not know how our staff will manage,” she joked. “[The software] will give timely financials, better analytics, better administration for loans, remittance management and security.”

Remittance inflows into Jamaica totalled US$2 billion (J$220 billion) in 2013 with Lasco Financial’s total revenues at a fraction of that, or J$628 million at its March 2014 year end.

In August 2012, Western Union International ordered its operators in St James to close for two weeks in order to implement anti-lotto

scam security measures. GraceKennedy Money Services holds the Western Union franchise for Jamaica.

In March 2013, Parliament passed the Fraudulent Transactions Act, dubbed the anti-lottery scam bill, aimed at specifically criminalising activities, some of which found loopholes in the law. It was followed by the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) passed in October that year.

“The amendments to the POCA last year, if you recall, as individuals you are not allowed to trade with over $1 million in cash with one transaction in 24 hours,” Hall-Tracey reminded the shareholders.

“Unfortunately, when this bill was being passed apparently no one remembered that remittance agents trade in cash and in high volumes of cash. Some banks use their discretion and allow them to get cash to run their business, but for several of them the banks refuse to pay more than $1 million cash and that really affects our business because we really need the funds in cash,”

she said.

The bill exempts banks and licensed financial institutions. However, many of Lasco’s sub-agents, which include supermarkets, would not fall under the supervision of the Bank of Jamaica or Financial Services Commission as financial institutions.

US officials have estimated that at one point lotto scamming fleeced US citizens of US$300 million annually. The US Embassy in Kingston has posted on its website a page highlighting scams from Jamaica.

“The most prevalent in Jamaica is the lottery scam, where scammers lead victims to believe they have won a drawing or lottery, but the cash or prizes will not be released without upfront payment of fees or taxes. Scammers frequently target the elderly or those with disposable income,” stated the Embassy on its website. “If it is too good to be true, it is not true.”

Additional scams originating in Jamaica include US citizens defrauded by Internet and social contacts they thought were their friends or loved ones, stated the embassy.

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Lasco upgrading software to fight lotto scammers

Three alleged scammers arrested

Bjorn Burke, Staff Reporter

Three Jamaicans residing in the United States, accused of scamming the elderly via telephone, were Thursday arrested and charged separately for their involvement in the fraudulent scheme.

Charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, with an enhanced penalty for targeting the elderly is 24-year old Shanice Ethridge, of Broward County, Florida, United States address.

Mikhail Gorbachev George Williams, 25, also of a Broward County, Florida address, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and running an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Charged with mail fraud is Fabian Winston Parkinson, 33, of Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Elderly victims

According to www.miami.cbslocal.com, an investigation launched by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the US Postal Inspection Service and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) lead them to the three accused.

The three would reportedly call elderly victims, informing them that they had won a lottery or sweepstakes. It is believed that the trio would tell the victims that in order to claim their winnings, they first had to pay taxes, duties or fees.

“These arrests show that HSI is committed to stopping individuals who prey on our senior citizens,” Special Agent in Charge of HSI Miami, Alysa Erichs said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our international partners and other law enforcement agencies to put an end to these criminal organisations.”

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Three alleged scammers arrested

Scammers improve technique

As local scammers find more inventive ways to rip off the unsuspecting, the fraudsters are now employing style and panache in their schemes by sending cabs to the doors of potential victims.

Reports from the Perth County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in Ontario, Canada are that lottery fraud attempts targeting single elderly residents in the county appear to be on the rise.

In addition to convincing unsuspecting persons to withdraw substantial amounts of money from their local bank accounts and transfering the money, this time around there is an interesting twist. It appears as though the fraudsters calling from Jamaica contact Canadian based taxi companies to order cabs to their victim’s front door.

This method appears to be an attempt to provide a cloak of legitimacy, all the while making it convenient for the victim to be transported to their local bank with the ultimate goal of swindling the victim’s hard-earned cash.

A number of taxi drivers in the area have reported that they have been dispatched to the homes of elderly residents by individuals calling from Jamaica.

As a result, Canadian authorities have warned the elderly to be wary of anyone attempting to have money sent to them in return for a prize. -BB

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Scammers improve technique

Scammers clone Miss Kitty"s voice

Tricking callers of winning prize money

Andr? Williams, STAR Writer

Scammers, using sophisticated techniques have cloned the voice of well-known media personality Khadine ‘Miss Kitty’ Hylton, and are fleecing money from unsuspecting customers of telecom giants Digicel, of which Hylton is a brand ambassador.

THE STAR understands that in at least one instance, as a result of the ongoing scam, a victim was tricked out of US$485 or its Jamaican equivalent $54,320, all of which was sent over to an individual who reportedly used the name Denise Williams.

A relative of the victim told THE STAR, “last week Thursday dem call her saying this is Miss Kitty and used her popular shout ‘lalalalalalala’ saying that she was a winner in Digicel summertime promotion “They asked her to call back to confirm her winning number, when she did they asked her to hold a moment to transfer the call.”

The relative continued, “My understanding is that when the call was transferred, someone purporting to be Miss Kitty came on the line and confirmed the winning, and said the prize was a trip to America and $400,000 cash, adding that four persons could accompany her on the trip.”

When quizzed by THE STAR if the victim had entered any contest, the relative was quick to state, “She never knowingly entered any contest, but a Digicel and sometime when you add credit you are automatically entered in a contest and she knew of some type of promotion going on.”

Our news team gathered that the victim was also informed that a family member who resides overseas would have to make contact with the competition’s organisers to establish that they would receive the group on arrival in the United States. THE STAR was told that contact was made with a family member living in the US who agreed to receive the group.

The relative said, “When our cousin called them, she spoke to the same Kitty person and the promotion was again explained to her. They then told her that she needed to pay a processing fee in order for them to receive the tickets to travel, and the prize money to be paid out.”

THE STAR was told that US$485 was sent by the relative.

When our news team contacted Miss Kitty, she informed THE STAR that she is aware of people pretending to be her and that the scam came to light a year ago.

She said, “It has been happening from a year ago or so, I have tweeted, I wrote about it in my articles, I spoke about it in my interviews, I have spoken to the police, I have done all that’s within my powers. Persons must not be stupid enough to allow these heartless dishonest persons to take their hard earned money.”

Miss Kitty also told THE STAR that scammers in the past have even contacted her pretending to be her.

She said, “They have even called me pretending to be me, you understand what I’m saying? I’ve worked hard to build my brand and I cannot afford for these practices to be associated with my name, I’m beseeching that these scoundrels desist and again people must not be so gullible or vulnerable, when in doubt leave it out or ask dem to take for example the 10 out of the 20 and send the balance …”

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Scammers clone Miss Kitty"s voice

DA in Pennsylvania warns against Jamaica lottery scammers

According to an Associated Press report on Wednesday, a district attorney in the American state of Pennsylvania is warning people in a Pittsburgh suburb to beware of a telephone scam, apparently based in Jamaica.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. reportedly said the callers claim to work for Publisher’s Clearing House — the legitimate sweepstakes firm — and tell residents they’ve won a prize but must first send a check to cover processing fees.

According to Zappala, the callers have targeted residents of Whitehall Borough and South Fayette Townships in recent days, and that caller IDs have indicated the calls are being placed from the ’876′ area code in Jamaica.

Zappala has reportedly advised residents to always refuse to send money when they’re contacted by phone about any sweepstakes prize or similar offer. He said residents can avoid the calls altogether by having their phone company block any calls from the Jamaican area code.

SOURCE: Associated Press

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DA in Pennsylvania warns against Jamaica lottery scammers

Scammers target some NCB customers

The National Commercial Bank (NCB) is probing the circumstances under which scammers compromised one of  its Automated Banking Machines, ABM’s, in Portmore in the central parish of  St. Catherine, fleecing hundreds of thousands of  dollars from customers.

The bank has deactivated debit cards of  customers who conducted transactions at its ABM at Portmore Pines Plaza between last Thursday and Sunday.

It’s reported, that the bank discovered that members of  a criminal network placed a special device inside the ABM, which collected the personal identification numbers of customers.

A senior investigator told RJR News, that three members of  the network, including the alleged leader, were recently arrested and charged with fraud.

However, he said other members of  the network have continued the scam.

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Scammers target some NCB customers

Kartel"s sons targeted by scammers

Curtis Campbell, STAR Writer

Vybz Kartel’s common-law-wife, Tanesha ‘Shorty’ Johnson, is advising the public to refrain from sending money to unscrupulous persons on social networking website Facebook, who claim to be booking agents for her sons, Little Addi and Little Vybz.

According to Shorty, the boys are just beginning to hone their craft as deejays and she does not want them to suffer at the hands of Internet bullies.

“A lot of people creating Facebook account under my name and I am not on Facebook. People are taking bookings for my sons and collecting people money and I want them to stop doing that,” she said.

Shorty, who now operates her own record label called Short Boss Muzik, says Little Addi and Little Vybz are currently off the market for promoters.

“I don’t start taking bookings for my sons as yet and I have never owned a Facebook profile before. Some persons are even telling me that they are friends with me on Facebook and that is new to me,” she said.

Little Addi and Little Vybz have already released singles like Hello Daddy and Gimme Di Money. Short Boss Muzik recently released a Vybz Kartel single called Down Kingston. The song has already garnered over 60,000 views on YouTube.com.

curtis.campbell@gleanerjm.com

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Kartel"s sons targeted by scammers

Kartel"s sons targeted by scammers

Curtis Campbell, STAR Writer

Vybz Kartel’s common-law-wife, Tanesha ‘Shorty’ Johnson, is advising the public to refrain from sending money to unscrupulous persons on social networking website Facebook, who claim to be booking agents for her sons, Little Addi and Little Vybz.

According to Shorty, the boys are just beginning to hone their craft as deejays and she does not want them to suffer at the hands of Internet bullies.

“A lot of people creating Facebook account under my name and I am not on Facebook. People are taking bookings for my sons and collecting people money and I want them to stop doing that,” she said.

Shorty, who now operates her own record label called Short Boss Muzik, says Little Addi and Little Vybz are currently off the market for promoters.

“I don’t start taking bookings for my sons as yet and I have never owned a Facebook profile before. Some persons are even telling me that they are friends with me on Facebook and that is new to me,” she said.

Little Addi and Little Vybz have already released singles like Hello Daddy and Gimme Di Money. Short Boss Muzik recently released a Vybz Kartel single called Down Kingston. The song has already garnered over 60,000 views on YouTube.com.

curtis.campbell@gleanerjm.com

View the original article here

Kartel"s sons targeted by scammers