Wheatley warns of scam Hurricane Melissa relief websites targeting donors
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Dr Andrew Wheatley is warning the public about fraudulent websites seeking to exploit people’s generosity in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.
According to Dr Wheatley, the Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCIRT) has detected several suspicious domains designed to divert donations away from legitimate government channels.
“Jamaica Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCIRT) monitoring system has detected multiple suspicious domains currently under development that appear designed to divert donations away from legitimate channels. In fact, up to last night we identified eight such sites, and just now it has been updated to 28 such sites that are attempting to divert contributions, donations from legitimate sources,” he said during a media briefing earlier on Thursday.
Dr Wheatley, who is responsible for science, technology, and special projects, noted that many of the fraudulent sites closely resemble the official government platform. He cautioned the public to avoid the following domains, which have been confirmed as fake:
- jamaicahurricanehelp.net
- jamaicahurricanehelp.org
- jamaica-hurricane-help.com
- melissareliefjamaica.net
- melissareliefjamaica.com
- melissareliefjamaica.org
- supportjamaicagovjm.com
- supportjamaicagov.net
He added that JaCIRT has determined these sites are in various stages of development and may become active in the coming days. The official government website for Hurricane Melissa relief efforts is supportjamaica.gov.jm.
Dr Wheatley urged individuals to exercise extreme caution when donating online.
“Do not enter any personal or financial information. Do not make any payments. Report the sites immediately to JaCIRT at ja.cirt@opm.gov.jm,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to international donors for their willingness to support Jamaica during this difficult time and assured that JaCIRT will continue to monitor and collaborate with international cybersecurity partners to shut down the malicious sites.
