In 2009 alone, Americans sent over $30 million to Jamaica to claim winnings in this lottery scam. These people were scammed out of all this money.
Scam artists are making Jamaica an even larger scaming center than the previous scamming hub of Nigeria. Jamaicans speak better English and are more familiar with the American culture and way of life. This makes it easier for them to try and scam Americans. Many scammers try to be extremely polite and speak professionally.
Most of these scams are run by groups out of Montego Bay, some of the groups operate out of Kingston.
It’s still quite easy to recognize their accents. They will refer to you as “Mr. Dave” or “Mrs. Sarah” instead of by your surname which is common in Jamaica, but not in the United States. They may also tell you to “go to THE Moneygram at THE Wal-mart” instead of “go to Moneygram at Wal-mart”.
876 is the area code in Jamaica. Some will call you without blocking their number so that you can return the call. Many make these calls from their cell phones. Others have gone as far as using services like MagicJack to obtain local phone numbers through out the United States which they can make or receive calls from over the internet using a phone number in the area code of their choice. If you hear an echo or feedback chances are that you are talking to someone using MagicJack and their volume is turned up too loud.
Calling an 876 number will cause your phone carrier to charge you international calling fees which seem to be between $0.35-1.25 a minute depending on your phone carrier.
Some Jamaican numbers who have called me with this scam:
(876) 576-2014
(876) 479-9786
(876) 862-8868
(876) 474-3431
(876) 894-8896
(876) 437-9931
I talked to a few of the scammers. Some of the scammers I sent on wild goose chases pretending to believe them, pretending to go to MoneyGram or Western Union, and then giving them false numbers or telling them I accidentally sent it to the wrong person. If you want to mess with them be aware that MoneyGram uses a digit number as follows and Western Union uses a digit number as follows.
After messing with them several times and even telling them that I knew it was a scam and going as far as giving them advice and tips. They began asking me if I was interested in helping them to scam other Americans for a cut of the money. I asked them what this would entail and they said basically:
1) They wanted me to identify a local casino or a place where people win money, phone number, address, etc.
2) Get lists of people who frequent this area with their contact info.
3) Help them to set up a MagicJack number with a local area code and telephone number.
4) Their call center would call these people up and ask them to send a processing fee to a local person (me) with a fake identity.
5) They would set me up with a false identity.
6) People would mail, wire, and send me money using snail mail, MoneyGram and Western Union and we’d split the profits 50-50.
Of course I didn’t agree to doing this since I’d be taking all the risks for the potential of minimal gains.
Life in Jamaica is rough. There is frequent violence and crime and the majority of people outside the major resorts live below the poverty level. These organized scams have provided additional ways for Jamaicans to make money. However they have also led to violence among different groups of scammers. One group of scammers was recently murdered by a rival group to eliminate the competition.
One group identified themselves as a call center with over 50 people operating out of the Freeport area of Montego Bay in Jamaica complete with a modern office using computers, Voice-over-IP calling devices, caller id spoofing, etc. This group claims to make thousands of calls a day resulting in hundreds of people sending them thousands of dollars a day. They told me that they had convinced one 82 year old man from Florida who had been in Jamaica 3 weeks prior that he had won a cash prize and needed to pay them $15k in taxes to collect the money.
The other group identified themselves as two seventeen year old high school boys from Montego Bay running the scam on their own using their cellphones and using the computers at their local schools. They were looking to expand their group to partners within the United States and they provided me with their Instant Message contact info and MySpace page. Below is a photo of one of the Jamaican scammers taken from his MySpace page. Look how tough he looks! Yeah right!
How the scam works:
Jamaican scammer groups obtain your name, address, and phone number from mailing lists purchased by legitimate Montego Bay Casinos from various American based casinos. These Jamaican casinos either sell these lists to or have these lists stolen by scammers.
They are also able to obtain lists of people who have visited Jamaica and stayed at local resorts.
The Scammers have call centers. A caller will call you up and say that you won millions of dollars in some sort of lottery, but you need to wire a small fee to the company to cover the processing or delivery fee. They ask you to go to your local Western Union or Moneygram and send a small amount of money to a person located either in Jamaica or in the United States.
If you send them money. This request will lead to future requests for money. These scammers may later even pose as the police or FBI and say that they need you to send additional cash to aid in their investigation. Leading to additional losses in money. These scammers work in groups and teams.
These scams look for people with compulsive impulses who are often elderly. Some of these victims are like gamblers, they send money to Jamaica regardless of knowing that it might be a scam with the slim chance that they would eventually receive some money. Some have lost their entire life savings. A 72 year-old retired bookkeeper from New Jersey named Ann Mowle committed suicide in 2007 after sending more than $248,000 to Jamaica over the course of a year.
This scam has grown dramatically over the past two years. Western Union and Moneygram deserve part of the blame for this type of scam. They allow so much money to be sent to Jamaica through their network. It seems that they could do a better job of investigating fraud and be skeptical about lots of small and large transactions going to people in Jamaica. But what do they care? They their own cut of the profits!
These jackasses keep calling up my grandma and she keeps talking to them. She’s like 84 years old and loves talking to these Jamaican scammers for some reason. She even sends them money to keep them calling because she likes talking to them so much. My mom and uncle tried to have her number changed, but she did not want that and now she tries to hide their calls from us.
My father has been caught up in this scam for months now and he truly believes hes gonna win. The hole family keeps telling him they’re not coming but he wont listen.They call all day on his home phone and his cell. Hes sent them over $30.000 dollars now. My mother and I had to freeze all his accounts and move his savings to another so he cant wast his retirement on these scammers anymore, but he still finds a way to keep sending the money.It’s like an addiction.I don’t know if they’re threatening him or why he keeps doing it, but its gotta stop.Me and my family don’t know what to do. We reported this to the local police but they said if he’s willingly giving up his money they cant do anything about it. Just this week we went to Western union and put a block on his name so he cant send anymore money. I pray this works. Isn’t there anything else to do to catch these fools? Its tearing my family apart. My mothers threatening divorce.:_(
Be sure to block MoneyGram as well. They also use moneygram to receive money in Jamaica.
The only way to stop this completely is to sue Western Union and MoneyGram for allowing the money to freely be sent to Jamaica. The Jamaican police are too corrupt to stop this scamming.
My folks almost died of exposure having spent all their money on this scam. They lost their home and eventually all their possesions. Even after all that they remain hooked and continue to send $$ every month no matter what I try to do to stop them. MoneyGram cut them off, they simply switched to Western Union. Now these scammers are even funneling funds through my dad’s accounts so they can continue to rob others. All I get is anger from my folks ages 78 & 84. They argue “What else have we got to live for” Sad to see them waiting by the door for weeks for a prize that will never come.
Kayla, if that’s true then it’s very sad. Maybe her grandkids should talk to her more, and spend more time with her. Sounds like she’s lonely. Poor soul.
These guys are a bunch of dirty niggers. Living on an island like a bunch of gorillas, eating bananas, and spreading AIDS!
i went down to jamonkia last year and outside the resort areas, they do live like a bunch of wild animals. it’s like the jungle in the caribean.
you are so racist. what they did shouldn’t leave an opinion on the rest of the country, I know Jamiacans who have more morals than anyone else. watch what you say, you fucking racist. i cant beleve you would even say that o nthe internet, you deserve to get beaten.
jamaicans are the most corrupt people in the world, they steal from each other and kill one another like packs of wild gorillas. those niggers also smell like absolute shit and need to take baths!
I doubt they have more morals than anyone else. I guess I deserve to be beaten too though, cuz I agree with Phil.
fuck motherfuckers talkng about a jungle america got the most scammers in the world check ur facts go claim ur money from murdock
You sound like a ridiculous racist. Who uses the “n” word anymore? These people are like any other people who are impovished…they are trying to survive. Our job is to inform people about such scams and protect them from being harmed not to use hurtful and humiliating words because of their race; this is not about race!
and ur nuttin but a dirty cracker jew bit stealing all the money n land from everyone thats y ur dog smellin fucks got steamed fried bitch!
chuck let’s not forget that it takes one to know one, i was gonna make a bunch of racial remarks but, that would make me the same as you, and scince the artist of the millenium is jamaican (according to billboard), their is nothing you can say to make me feel ashamed of being black, not to mention the fastest man and women in the world….so go fuck your mother
These Jamaican monkeys are almost as bad as Somali pirates.
How ridiculous are you to refer to human beings as monkeys…let’s not make this about race. We need to make the public aware of these scams, particularly our elder who LOVE to talk on the phone.
I wouldn’t consider them human beings. They are somewhere between man and ape.
It’s almost like they have not evolved completely into human form and the evolution stopped half way with them.
who is actually dumb enough to fall for these scams?
white fucks r dumb enuff 2 fall 4 this shit.so what its all the money yall stole anyway
try calling some of the 876 numbers above. i called (876) 479-9786 and pretended like i was trying to buy some weed. it was really funny.
hahahaa omg thats too funny. i wanna do that now
The Jamaican gangs are killing each other over this shit!
all these jamaican and nigerian scammers need to be stopped! it’s the cell phone companies fault for allowing the calls and western unions fault for allowing people to send thousands of dollars overseas.
I received emails almost every other day, that I have just won $US1m, inherited EUR 20m, ask to help a widow to take out money and earn a cut of another US$1m etc etc etc. If I were to total the amount I have “inherited, won, or commission” these past years, by now, I think I am as rich as Bill Gates!
If it is too good to believe, it is usually untrue.
try replying to these emails sometime and then provide them with your phone number. you will receive TONS of *interesting* phone calls.
yeah.. that’s the way we make money in Jamaica we don’t have any other option, an if we go the other way many people are going to get kill , so whats the big deal easy money, hot car, hot girl, fancy dressing( full suit of POLO Ralph of course). So if you racist white people don’t like it sent your falling angel after us because we have guard ring. But no offence still you lose and i win.
Thank you for understanding O. Maragh,for more info call 18764862206
You racist motherfuckers are full of shit.us scammers have the best of the best,fully furnished big house,expensive cars and clothes,a lot of money in the bank. So phil quit bulshittin youself. U white motherfuckers are stupid and we are so smart. All that shit u talkin, am inviting u come back to jamaica an say those stupid ass shit to someone and u will c what happens to u.
Yeah you sound real smart. What? They don’t teach you how to spell down there? Idiot…
u stupid motherfucker, its shorthand typing. You americans are all the same. Not even y’all English is right…..
yes, you are a filthy nigger.
Eh u can’t send sum of de white man money 2 me. UNO nuh easy lol .
These people who r doing these article need to stop showing the worst part of the country. There r a lot of millionaires in jamaica including scammers ha ha aha. There are a lot of gated community, us scammers live the good life motherfucker talkin bout all we do is eat banana and spread aids, fuck u aids is evrywhere homosexual. U need to come to jamaica so u can be beaten and burried in a shallow grave jamaican style. Stupid motherfucker. We aint gonna stop taking ya all money. Ha hA ha ha ahA ha. Love u white idiots for makin us so rich. I have no more time for you got to go back to takin ya all money.
jamaicans stop mbarrasin u damn selves…….nd stop scammin the ppl thm money…..go luk jobs u worthless set a dunce…..am a jamaican….bt tht doesnt make scammin rite
It’s just a recycle thing guys, scammig is wrong but where did it start? well let me tell u, we were educated by our slave master, thinking we were animals now we are educated they just taking back what they think they were rob of. it’s not there fault ok it’s just how the system is setup they don’t know any better way to make money put yourself in there shoes. Life is just unbalance take the blame too guys. black and white (wrong and right) peace and love to u all
I was called on 92/2011 andthis was the first time I heard of this scam. It seems to me that this scam could not exist for so long without someone in the Janaican government being involved.
I’ve been getting calls from 876 numbers.
I’ve never picked up the phone, since I googled the area code after the first call and it came up as Jamaica.
Yet, they persist in the hopes that perhaps I get frustrated enough to answer the call.
My advice is to install a call block application on your cell phone. Your phone won’t ring.
For home phone users: some Panasonic cordless phones/bases have Call Block functions.
It’s not ideal, but until phone companies start blocking incoming area codes for me, I’m not sure the alternative. Aside from changing my phone number.
Unfortunately, these scam artists could get sophisticated enough to start altering area codes, such that you’ll have no idea where the call is coming from. We’re not there yet, but just be careful what call you pick up.
If it’s not in your ‘Contact’ list or a number you recognize, don’t bother picking up. If it’s important, they will leave a message.
As a black Jamaican I find calling us niggers and gorillas funny. We are multiracial including whites. We eat a lot of fruits including bananas because they’re healthier than American junk food. We live mostly in reinforced concrete houses that survive hurricanes and earthquakes unlike American wood frame houses that vanish in 1 tornado season - how can you sleep in those firetraps?!?!
Like the US we have a crime problem and we wish Americans would report our scammers and stop being so gullible. Be racist if you like - we don’t care. But help us fight crime.
I was born in Jamaica, grew up in America and visit Jamaica not too often.
I sell phone credit and am self-employed.
Yes, countries like Jamaica have messed up economies and some people do want to take short-cuts to having wealth. Jamaica has talented energetic people and produces notable professors, doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, musicians and professionals but also notorious druggies, thugs, killers and scam artists.
I understand that it’s not always possible for wealthier people to be up on all the scams out there.
It is just expected then that people getting called should use their common sense and/or experience.
When I was a teenager I got scammed out of my first $400 paycheck in a busy shopping/tourist area in New York City. The con-artist appealed to me seeming to be a nice black man, and I thought I was too! That experience has helped me to avoid subsequent scam attempts and has saved me thousands, if not $40,000. My mind is still open to opportunities but I try to get my money’s worth before plunking down my cash.
We wealthier people really should run these situations by lawyers, or at least research every offer using Google or answers.yahoo.com or jabber.com if we don’t trust our friends/families for more perspectives. To not do so is just ignorant.
A fool and his money are soon parted right?
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