Scammers unfazed

Not frightened by extradition threats

Continue to justify fleecing US citizens

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:While the Jamaican Government is trying to stem the lottery scam, it appears that local scammers, who are being threatened with extradition, remain unfazed.

"Extradition is not my problem … . A hungry man is concerned about food - not where it comes from," a self-confessed scammer told Western Focus earlier this week. "They (the Government) are hypocrites … . They are only making noise because the US frightened them."

In recent weeks, the city of Montego Bay - especially the community of Granville - has been catapulted into the international spotlight on account of a CBS news feature focusing on the lottery scam. The programme describes the western city as home to "the biggest fraud scheme targeting senior citizens in the United States at this time".

CALL FOR EXTRADITION

In addition, Senator Susan Collins, a member of the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, called for Jamaican scammers to be extradited to the United States to face prosecution.

While the scammers say that the lottery scam is an avenue of reparation for the ills of slavery, Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States, Professor Stephen Vasciannie, says it is a destructive scheme, which is negatively affecting Jamaica's tourism, remittances, and the business sector.

Like Vasciannie, businessman Davon Crump, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is worried that Jamaica is poised to pay a very heavy price for the scamming scourge.

"It is worrying … . Those who are involved (in scamming) do not understand the damaging impact it is having on their own lives," said Crump. "The ICT and tourism industries, which employ their parents and are responsible for sending them to school, are what they are destroying."

In Granville, which was the epicentre of the lottery scam in its genesis, social activist O'Dave Allen says the community is partly to be blamed for the ugly picture that has been painted of it.

"To some extent, the community must take some responsibility for this embarrassing and ugly characterisation, which we now hope will spur the broader citizenry into action to change the perception and the reality of what the community has become," he said.

Allen said efforts are now being made to fix the community's image and to offer to youth legitimate alternatives for upward mobility.

"We recently staged a crime summit to examine the various issues," said Allen. "In addition, we are having regular consultations with the citizenry to develop programmes to train and create employment for the youngsters."

HOPE FOR A BETTER WAY

Earlier this year, Councillor for the Granville division and Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay, Michael Troupe, said Granville was equipped to flourish without illegal activities.

"Everything that you want to assist young people can be found in Granville," Troupe said. "We have a HEART Trust/NTA centre, the Sam Sharpe Teachers' College, and a CSJP (Citizen Security and Justice Programme) centre, among other amenities."

But the scammers are not interested in acquiring a skill set or going back to school and instead are justifying their trade.

"Everybody in Montego Bay benefits from the lottery scam … hardware store, supermarket, car mart, entertainment centre - everybody," a young scammer told Western Focus. "Now that are looking scapegoats to extradite, all the [attention] is on poor people."