A Grove man was last Tuesday charged by the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) over a romance scheme fraud.
Jaffon Hinds of Lot 106, Downer Street, Grove, East Bank Demerara, appeared before Magistrate Zamilla Ally at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court where the charges were read to him.
Hinds pleaded not guilty and was released on $30,000 bail for each of the three charges.
The matter was then adjourned until August 15.
A SOCU release stated that Hinds had collected the sum of $502,340 from the complainant on three separate occasions. It is alleged that the accused acted as a third party for another person who had befriended the complainant through a Facebook connection.
The complainant claimed that she sent the money to Hinds via Western Union, since she was told to do so by her Facebook boyfriend, who had promised her a huge package containing lots of expensive items.
However, to date, the woman has not received any package and it was said that her Facebook friend has since ceased all contact with her.
As such, an investigation was carried out by SOCU which subsequently led to Hinds’ arrest and him being charged.
It was only in April of this year that a statement was issued by SOCU head, Senior Superintendent Fazil Karimbaksh, where he warned of an increase in scams and pyramid schemes allegedly involving Nigerian nationals who are in the country illegally, with the assistance of local Guyanese.
He explained that the modus operandi used by the scammers is to befriend unsuspecting women via the digital platforms using fake profiles of Caucasian men posing with luxury vehicles and large sums of cash.
According to the release, Karimbaksh had explained that “after communicating with the victim for some time to build trust with their ‘new friend’ or ‘love interest’, the scammer promises the intended victim some form of assistance.” In most instances, he added, it is supposedly a package containing valuable gift items, such as designer clothing, jewellery, televisions, cell phones, other electronic devices and money.
The head of SOCU informed that the victim is usually contacted by a local associate of the scammer, confirming the arrival of the package and requesting their personal contact and other information. The intended victim is subsequently contacted again and requested to deposit money to a specified local bank account or send it via a money transfer facility or the Guyana Post Office Corporation. They tell the victim that the payment is required to cover brokerage fees, customs duties, penalties and/or shipping charges for the package(s), which are supposedly found on inspection to contain high valued items. “Once the payment is made, the scammers discontinue all contact with the victim(s) who are being robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the release added.
