SENIOR Superintendent of Police Anthony McLaughlin, who heads the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime (C-Toc) division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, bemoaned on Friday what he said was an increase in fraud at financial institutions since 2022.

He, however, did not say how much has been defrauded from these financial institutions since last year. Neither did he give a figure for 2021.

SSP McLaughlin was speaking at a press conference Friday morning to announce the arrest and charge of Jean-Ann Panton, a former employee of Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), for fleecing billions of dollars from more than 30 clients. Sprint Legend Usain Bolt is among the SSL clients who were robbed of money invested. He was fleeced of more than US$12 million.

The senior officer accused financial institutions of leaving doors open that could make fraud easy.

“We have seen since the latter part of last year that there has been an uptick in fraud. We are appealing to businesses to look at their systems to ensure that they tighten the loopholes that some of these people are using to commit fraud,” McLaughlin said.

The SSP alluded to recent successes the police have had in placing accused fraudsters before the courts. He referenced a $65-million fraud at Sagicor Bank as well as a $44-million case at the National Commercial Bank (NCB).

“As it relates to the Sagicor matter, an additional person was charged and brought before the court. In total four people were charged in that matter.

For NCB, just one person was charged. The sum in this matter is approximately $44 million.”

We also arrested and charged a justice of the peace in St Ann. She was also a paralegal clerk. She was arrested and charged with defrauding a client of over $27 million. She was taken to court on Thursday and was remanded in custody,” McLaughlin said.

— Jason Cross