ACP Denver Frater. -Norman Grindley /Deputy Chief Photographer

Western Bureau:

With the police finally reporting success in their efforts to break the back of Montego Bay's multi-million-dollar lottery scam, its off-shoot is a thriving extortion racket that is now all the rage in the western city.

The Sunday Gleaner has learnt that underworld figures have been demanding vast sums of money from 'scammers' (persons involved in the lottery scam), who are reportedly being told that failure to pay up is akin to signing one's own death sentence.

According to a source familiar with the extortion scheme, the recent gangland-style killings of two alleged scammers in Montego Bay - one in Mt. Salem and the other in Bogue Village - resulted from their refusal to honour the financial demands that had been made of them.

Criminal activities

"We have intelligence indicating that the scam is behind a wide range of criminal activities, including murders," said Assistant Commissioner Police (ACP) Denver Frater, the head of the Criminal Investigation Branch. "However, with the help we are now getting from our overseas counterparts, I think we are now making significant headway in our bid to put these scammers out of business."

Adds ACP Frater: "We have intelligence that criminals are using the money from the scam to procure weapons for the criminal underworld. It is some of these same weapons that are being used to commit some of the murders in Montego Bay."

A source told The Sunday Gleaner that once a potential target (scammer) is identified, a letter outlining financial demands mixed with threats is prepared and hand-delivered by young ladies aligned to the gangsters.

"In the letters, the scammers are told that they must pay over a particular sum or they will be killed," said The Sunday Gleaner source. "They are also told to provide a cellular number where they can be contacted, to facilitate the paying over of the money."

Scammers

The Sunday Gleaner source said that scammers who are not considered as major players in the illicit money scheme, are usually asked to pay over between $40,000 and $60,000 per fortnight, while the major players could be asked to fork out as much as $150,000 per fortnight.

In the case of the scammer, who was killed in Mt. Salem, it is said that he infuriated the gangsters when he tore up the letter that was sent to him and instead sent back threatening remarks to the gangsters.

The scam, which has left numerous Montego Bay communities awash with cash, has been blamed for a number of bloody feuds between rival scammers, some of whom have reportedly solicited the services of gangsters and rogue police to protect their interests.

Buoyed by their success in fleecing the scammers of their illicit booty, the gangsters are said to be turning their attention on legitimate members of the Montego Bay business community, with a view to expanding their criminal enterprise.