Lottery-scam law to also cripple identity thieves

PERSONS ENGAGED in identity theft will soon be captured under the new lottery-scam legislation more formally designated the Law Reform Fraudulent Transaction Special Provisions Act of 2013.

Director of legal reform in the Ministry of Justice, Maurice Bailey, told members of a joint select committee reviewing the Cybercrime Act that the lotto-scam law criminalised identity theft.

The crime involves the accessing of personal or financial information of another person for the purpose of assuming that person's name or identity in order to make transactions or purchase.

Writer and expert on issues of cybersecurity, Dr Marco Gercke, yesterday highlighted that neither identity-related crime nor data espionage was covered by the Cybercrime Act in Jamaica.

Gercke was making a presentation yesterday via videoconferencing to members of a joint select committee reviewing the Cybercrime Act.

Following his comments, committee member Raymond Pryce sought clarification from members of the technical team as to whether the cybercrime law was silent on identity theft.

Bailey argued that identity theft was a serious problem in Jamaica.

"If you look in the latter part of the lottery-scam act, you will see there is extensive provisions about the use of credit cards identifying information and so on and that relates to identity theft," he explained.