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BY Vaughn Davis Sunday Observer staff reporter davisv@jamaicaobserver.com  
March 3, 2007

BOJ seal, governor’s signature forged in lottery scam

Police probing the St James-based international lottery and sweepstakes scam have found that Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) seals and the forged signature of the central bank governor were used in what is turning out to have been an elaborate scheme to fleece people of their money.

“All that was done in this scam relates to identity theft,” senior forensic examiner at the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Keith Darien, told a seminar on cyber-crimes held at the Management Institute for National Development (MIND) on Thursday.

“All they did was to compile information on persons who legitimately entered the sweepstakes and e-mail it to their conspirators in Jamaica,” he explained. “Then they went to the central bank and got a seal, and created a letterhead. Then they extracted the signature of the governor of the Bank of Jamaica and affixed it to the letter.”

The letters, Darien said, were then sent overseas to the persons who had bought sweepstakes, instructing them that their winnings – which were allegedly always in the millions – were at the Bank of Jamaica and that the money would be released on the order of the governor after the victim paid certain processing fees.

“They (the letters) have a figure of how much you’re to pay and a number you’re to call. And when the people call [Jamaica] they hear ‘Welcome to the BOJ, how may I direct your call’ and believe that everything is all right,” Darien said.

Police have so far estimated the total amount of money lost in the scam at US$250,000.

On February 15 cops from Operation Kingfish, the Fraud Squad, Financial Investigation Division, Special Anti-Crime Task Force, Mobile Reserve, Organised Crime Division, and Area One, assisted by Jamaica Defence Force soldiers carried out raids at 13 locations in Hanover and St James in association with the lottery scam.

Thirty persons were taken into custody during the raids. Ten of them – Jomo Bernard, Shanon Ricketts, Cleopatra Bent, Stascha Smith, Khilela Hardy, Kenley Stephens, Damion Marshall, Shameka Headley, Lenroy Campbell, and Stephen Allen, all of Montego Bay, St James – were subsequently taken before the courts on charges of conspiracy to defraud.

On Friday, all 10 were granted $300,000 bail each when they appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate’s Court. They had to surrender their travel documents and were ordered to report to the Freeport Police Station between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm from Monday to Saturday.

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