Scammers taking over the gangs – Watson
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH PRESSURE from law enforcement and the fear of extradition making lottery scamming less lucrative and appealing, lottery scammers in western Jamaica are said to be merging into existing criminal gangs to create new avenues to continue their criminal lifestyle.
Speaking at Wednesday night’s Gleaner Light on Violence Special Crime Forum in Hanover, Sergeant Kevin Watson, who heads the police’s Anti-Lottery Scam Task Force, said that the scammers are branching out into other criminal enterprise through their association with gangs that have been a fixture in the region in recent years.
“There are more than 30 gangs in St James who are probably benefiting from the lottery scams. In fact, we believe most of the gangs came up through the proceeds of the lottery scam,” said Watson. “The top-tier scammers, who have mastered the game, they are at the helm of the gangs. They bring in the money to support the gangs.”
RESIDUAL EFFECTS
Watson is blaming the ongoing lawlessness that has been churning out record numbers of murders in the western region on the infighting between scammers-turned-gangsters, who are no longer generating vast sums of money from the illicit scheme, which is steadily becoming a diminishing pie.
“What you are seeing are the residual effects of lottery scamming. These scammers are branching off into gang activities. They would have already procured illegal firearms to facilitate their criminal activities from the proceeds of scamming. They are the ones fuelling the violence,” said Watson.
“The fact that the lottery scam is not as lucrative as it once was, you find more internal conflicts going on for the spoils. The spoils are now more valuable because it is not as prevalent as before.”