Task force targets Caribbean scammers
By Tim Darragh
June 5, 2009

We've Got Your Back is a column warning the public about frauds and other illegal activities against consumers.

If you want to report a scam, contact gotyourback@mcall.com

The scam: Would-be thieves called Clarence's home not too long ago, trying to scam him with a tall tale about winning $25,000 from a credit card provider. He didn't have that card, a minor detail that the crooks failed to note. The call ended pretty quickly. These types of scams frequently emanate from Jamaica, but there may be hope.



How it works: The callers get lists of names and numbers any number of ways, including by purchasing them on the black market. They try to convince you that if you would just pay taxes or fees of a few hundred or thousand dollars, the really big money would be yours.

What to do: First, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. According to a recent Associated Press story, Jamaican thieves have swiped more than $30 million from Americans. If that's not bad enough, the AP reports that the flood of money has fueled deadly violence between gangs that bought the same lists of names; they were willing to kill to keep their lists ''virgin.'' The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is creating a task force with Jamaican authorities to crack down on the crooks, according to reports. The cleansing can't come soon enough -- the AP also reported that a 72-year-old retired bookkeeper from Monroe, N.J., committed suicide after losing her life savings to the scammers.


http://www.mcall.com/news/local/police/ ... 9311.story