Beating scammers at their game

Dennie Quill, Columnist

This week, I heard the story of a housewife who was robbed at her gate by thugs who posed as delivery men. The thieves, travelling in a heavily tinted motor car, arrived at the woman's gate with clipboard and pen in hand advising that she was required to sign for a package.

This was really a ruse to get her close enough so they could yank her chain from her neck. Mission accomplished, they sped off with lightning speed, presumably on their way to access cash for stolen gold.

Then there was another incident where the robbers turned up with a bouquet of flowers for the 'lady of the house'. However, since they did not know the lady's name, the well-trained housekeeper refused to admit them into the yard. She spoke with them from behind the grilled front door and asked them to return later. They eventually drove away with bouquet in hand, perhaps in search of another victim.

NO TRUST FOR STRANGERS

Two days ago, a Cherry Gardens resident noted that a man pressed her buzzer asking for a glass of water. She promptly lied that there was no water in her pipes. She had heard how someone had used that same method to gain entrance to a neighbour's house a few weeks back. Perhaps this was someone who genuinely needed a drink of water to slake his thirst. However, the householder was not willing to take a chance on him. The days of trusting a stranger are long gone, and we tend to view each other with suspicion.

I wanted to point out these novel ways in which thieves are seeking to gain entry to people's home with the intention to loot and, perhaps, shoot, so that others can be aware and take nothing or no one for granted these days. There is every indication that as times become harder and unemployment dries up, there will be more desperate criminals on the loose.

From lottery and sweepstake scams to persons flogging high-yielding investment schemes, through to identity theft and timeshare deals, the conman is at work in many of our neighbourhoods. He is not much different from the wily three-card man of yesteryear; only now he has got much more sophisticated, aided by modern technology.

The high level of card scams globally have been baffling law enforcement agencies in many countries. Sometimes very simple methods are used, such as the phenomenon known as 'shoulder surfing', which refers to persons peeping over one's shoulder at cash points to catch a glimpse of PIN and other details.

THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

In Britain alone, credit and debit card scams were estimated at £388 million in 2012. The authorities believe this is the tip of the iceberg because many people are far too embarrassed to report that they have been victimised for fear of appearing stupid, naive or gullible.

Our local police are already overwhelmed by the level of violent crime and so it seems that scamming is not pursued with the seriousness it deserves. In other words, not enough resources are put into beating scammers at their game.

I have been thinking that a scam alert system should be set up in Jamaica. This system could be manned by ex-JCF and JDF officers of good reputation. The unit would receive reports of all types of scamming activities and, while investigating, ensure that they are published on social media and in traditional media in order to warn others so they do not fall prey to such scams. This anti-scam unit could also run seminars and give hints on how to protect against financial fraud and raise red-flag alerts to various scams as they are conceived.

In the meantime, I would advise everyone to be a-looking over your shoulder at all times.

Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and denniequill@hotmail.com.