ACP Novelette Grant
Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
THE POLICE say they are hot on the trail of a fake cop network that has duped several people of money and personal items. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police, Novelette Grant, the police's job has been made easier by the cooperation of victims.
"We haven't arrested anybody yet but we are getting there," ACP Grant told The Sunday Gleaner Friday. "We have somebody in mind and hopefully when that person is held, they can lead us to others," she added.
ACP Grant said since two weeks ago when it was disclosed that a woman was calling up citizens impersonating her and other senior female officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the police have received several calls from persons who said they had been duped by the criminals.
She disclosed that the latest of these calls was made last week by a man who says he was contacted by a person claiming to be a JCF inspector. The 'inspector' claimed he needed $10,000, to which the man obliged.
Two weeks ago, another man was conned out of his car. The police found the vehicle in St. Ann last week.
POSING AS INFLUENTIAL PERSONS
The con artists pose as persons of influence in the passport and immigration services, offering to procure documents for 'customers' for a price. Private residences and business places are reportedly their biggest victims.
"We are telling persons to be careful not to spend a long time talking on the phone with people you don't know, because they might be recording your voice to intimidate you,' she warned.
The police went public with the fake cop ring at the June 23 Gleaner Editors' Forum at the company's North Street headquarters. ACP Grant said the con woman had been operating for the past two months and was impersonating her, Superintendent Ionie Ramsay-Nelson, head of the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) and Deputy Superintendent, Hyacinth Wallace.
Last Tuesday, ACP Grant said she was contacted by the alleged culprit who called her cellphone to apologise for the 'inconvenience' she had caused. "She had no remorse in her voice," said ACP Grant.
In what was described as a fairly lengthy conversation, the woman said she was part of a 30-member network that operates out of Kingston. She also claimed to have ties in the JCF as well as Jamaica's two major cellular phone providers, Cable and Wireless and Digicel.
ACP Grant says she has contacted both companies to alert them of the woman's allegations.
