- RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Superintendent Ramsay-NelsonThe following is an excerpt from The Gleaner Editors' Forum held recently at the newspaper's North Street headquarters. The theme was 'Current Police Challenges'.
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF POLICE NOVELETTE GRANT: I have been having a very distressing experience for the last two months or so. There was an impostor going around purporting to be (DCP) Genivene Bent, (SP) Ionie Ramsay, (DSP) Hyacinth Wallace or me.
Apparently, members of the public are using our names and asking for assistance for broken down motor vehicle or asking for money for school fees. I am supposed to be asking for money to pay school fees for my 16-year-old son or my son is in a broken down vehicle and needs help.
Luckily, no police has really fallen for it, but we have been investigating this person and the calls seem to be originating from the Ocho Rios area, St. Ann, St. Mary area.
I got a call from a gentleman saying he was called and given certain information and was asked to provide certain services. He worked with one of the telecommunication companies, providers of telephone services and he was also told to take his motor car to a particular location because I told him what to do, because I promised to do certain things.
His reaction when he realised he had not actually spoken to me was distressing. It really shook me up because you start to really wonder how far this person is going to go.
The female impersonator called me. She impersonated an inspector of police saying I had called her and asked her for $50,000. We challenged the person and said 'You seem to be an impersonator.' I said: 'How you plan to get back your $50,000?' She said, 'That is okay.'
There was too much nonchalance in that and I said 'Go and report the matter then inspector, since we need to find out who is doing this' and until today's date, obviously the person hasn't reported it.
This is bothersome and there is a lot of dishonesty going around and people are using my name in a dishonest way and apparently members of the public are falling for it and I want people to be very aware of this issue.
It seems to be a scam, a scam that doesn't involve us police officers but could involve other persons' identity being used over the telephone.
In Jamaica, we tend to follow trends and it is not just good enough for people to listen and to believe and get themselves duped or conned out of their property or reveal personal information or any such thing.
This is an area where people need to be aware that you don't listen to a voice on a telephone without asking some probing questions. It is scary to know that people are gullible and would fall for these kinds of tricks. It is really scary.
SUPT. IONIE RAMSAY-NELSON: The method that the con artist used sometimes is going through 119 and having the call transferred. The calls that I have received so far came through 119, transferred from police 119 to the operator and from the operator to me, so it is difficult using that method to trace the calls because you would have to go through hundreds of calls.
ACP GRANT: From what I am picking up, this woman seems to be operating with a man and what the police in St. Ann were saying suggests that the woman seems to be the mastermind but we would have to get some more details about the man.
