KINGSTON, Jamaica— Information Minister, Robert Nesta Morgan, says that due to the prevalence of certain criminal activities in Jamaica, some people have been experiencing difficulties when trying to conduct business online.

The minister was speaking at a post-cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, when he said these criminal activities have resulted in Jamaica being grey-listed in some jurisdictions, which hampers international transactions.

“A lot this has to do with current practices that have evolved within our society such as scamming, and other online fraud. There are also issues related to correspondent banking, which is also a part of some of the challenges we face as a society. Being grey-listed in particular jurisdictions has really limited, in many cases, the ability of Jamaicans to do transactions internationally,” Morgan said.

He stated that these transactional barriers are the results of the lack of trust that some international and online businesses have in Jamaicans, and in promoting some of the illegal activities that are currently happening will only cause the country to be seen in a bad light.

“A lot of these things have to do with trust; how much do people trust the systems and the persons from particular jurisdictions who they are doing business with?” the minister questioned.

“And as a society I think we have to work harder to rebuild the trust that people have for us by not promoting, endorsing or engaging in particular activities that may cause other countries and jurisdictions to start looking at us in a particular way,” Morgan said.

On Tuesday the Broadcasting Commission issued a directive that requires broadcasters to immediately stop airing any audio or video promoting scamming, abuse of drugs, illegal or harmful use of guns or any forms of criminal activities.

READ: ‘No more scamming and molly songs’

“The use of the public airwaves to broadcast songs that promote/glorify illegal activity could give the wrong impression that criminality is an accepted feature of Jamaican culture and society,” the Commission stated in the release.