Basil Jarrett | The perfectly organised crime

Last month’s attempt to move 1,000 pounds of cocaine through Ian Fleming Airport was so ambitious, so audacious, that it must have required a gargantuan effort to plan and organise. Major crimes like these aren’t thrown together overnight and require high levels of coordination among multiple layers of actors to pull off. Unfortunately, that same level of coordination is why these massive police busts don’t happen every day.

But there’s another type of organised criminal activity taking place all day, every day that is no less organised, no less coordinated, and no less responsible for our high murder rate.

This monster operates secretly and quietly out of luxury and not-so-luxury apartments, as well as dorm rooms, back rooms, side rooms and front rooms, and sometimes out of no room at all. But unlike last September’s cocaine bust, the perpetrators are usually caught less spectacularly, often without public notice, simply because of the pervasive and seemingly innocuous nature of the crime.

That beast is the ubiquitous lottery scam, the quintessential example of organised criminal activity here in Jamaica. Like its cocaine-smuggling cousin, lottery scamming involves multiple actors working at multiple levels to enable or facilitate one of Jamaica’s most lucrative crimes. It is the very definition of organised crime, that is, a structured group of persons acting in concert to consistently coordinate and commit serious crimes for financial or other material gain. The key word here is ‘coordinated’.

For most Jamaicans, the vision of a ‘choppa’ is someone in their living room, acting alone, lead sheet in one hand, banger in the other, twangin’ to some poor unsuspecting retiree to tell them about some sweepstake they’ve won, and how to collect their cash prize in exchange for a nominal fee.

Top Scammer

This, however, is far from reality. Lottery scamming is the very epitome of organised crime, with a complex, well-organised and well-coordinated ecosystem of symbiotic actors, each playing their role in this lucrative food chain.

At the centre of this universe is the lead sheet, where everything starts and ends. The lead sheet emanates from multiple sources, including US-based organised crime syndicates as well as local and overseas BPOs. It is the scammer’s bread and butter with the sensitive personal data of countless targets. The lead sheet is typically sold to the higher of two levels of scammers, who we shall call the ‘Top Scammer’. The other level we will call the ‘Lower-Level Scammer’.

The Top Scammer, as his name suggests, is the Mr Biggs in the scamming empire. He pays lucratively for these lead sheets and guards his sources and contacts jealously. The Top Scammer is the strategic mastermind behind the operation and is paid a commission by his lower-level scammers. The Top Scammer is a sophisticated animal who buys and rents upscale, luxury apartments and often sublets them to his lower-tiered underlings to conduct scamming activities. Luxury apartments in gated communities offer a great deal of privacy and protection and do not draw attention to themselves. In addition to this home office, the Top Scammer provides his mid-level scammers with lead sheets, phones and SIM cards, the essential tools of the trade.

Below the Top Scammer is the Lower-Level Scammer. His job is to ‘chop di line’and to direct scamming activity. These are usually the loud, flashy persons on social media ‘flossing and endorsing’ their bricks of cash, rinsing their cars in Bel Air champagne and posing with the guns, the Gucci and the girls. Lower-Level Scammers live and work in rented luxury apartments. Unlike the rest of us, these guys didn’t need COVID-19 to teach them the benefits of remote work and work-life balance. They also often seek to legitimise their actions through the music business, either as artistes or as producers, giving rise to the scammer anthems which just last week drew the ire of the Broadcasting Commission. Some Low-Level Scammers are converts - previously scammed persons who have been lured into scamming to either get their money back or simply because they’re attracted to this accessible industry.

Below the Lower-level Scammers are the foot soldiers and runners, whose job is to collect and move money and material. These transporters and couriers are often the targets of rival scammers and their affiliated gangs.

Tying this network together is a complex web of enablers and facilitators who grease and turn the engines of the scamming enterprise. This includes bank managers, personal loans officers, financial advisers, etc, who help to open bank accounts, process payments, and facilitate moving money electronically.

Then there are the enforcers who are employed by the scammers to protect them from rival gangs and to safeguard the highly prized lead sheets. These trigger men are recruited from notorious gangs and are generally responsible for the murders and violence. Some entrepreneurial enforcers eventually diversify their portfolio by hiring scammers to work for them - protection comes standard, of course.

Then there is the victim himself - typically perceived to be an older pensioner living somewhere in middle America, relatively cut off, relatively naïve, and relatively underexposed. The truth, however, is that scamming victims are no longer as one-dimensional or monolithic. Scamming narratives have evolved and moved away from lottery and sweepstakes-type plots, to now include IRS refund, social security or debt-collection scams. In other words, anyone in debt can be a victim of scamming simply because scammers know their weaknesses and how to target them, thanks again to those lead sheets.

Network of Actors

Now, not all instances of scamming follow this structure as strictly as described here. What is certain, however, is that what started as one enterprising individual’s crazy idea and rinky-dink operation out of a Montego Bay back room, has since evolved into a complex network of actors, enablers and facilitators, funnelling millions of dollars through illicit schemes. It has now entered the realm of complex, well-organised, well-orchestrated criminal activity and deservedly drawn the attention of the highest levels of law- enforcement teams.

As we attempt to put this animal down, it is useful to view scamming as being executed by an organised, coordinated, networked pack of wolves, rather than a collection of individual animals hunting on their own.

Major Basil Jarrett is a communications strategist and CEO of Artemis consulting, a communications consulting firm specialising in crisis communications and reputation management. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.