What has happened to the Jamaicans???

[bksmm]

So to do your part, please let others know to stay away from the lotto scam. If someone you know gets a call and are told they won anything but have to pay money first to get it, ask them to please just hang up.

I could give this advice to thousands of people and they would all just laugh at me or say do I look like a moron? I only know of one person who may fall for the lotto scam and that is my 83 year old father-in-law. The vast majority of lotto scam victims are the elderly and I don't fully understand why they fall for it, but then I'm not old. People do lose their memory and mental capacities with age or certain diseases, but I think there's more to it. I think many elderly don't make good decisions under pressure, especially when they're being scammed or threatened. Also, many in the older generation are not technically savvy and they can be too trusting of strangers.

I could be dead wrong but your statement "Americans send millions of dollars to Jamaicans because they "won" millions of dollars in a contest they never entered and need to send payment to collect their "winnings"" sounds to me like you feel the victims are stupid or partially to blame. The criminals that pull off these scams have very sophisticated methods of building trust with their victims and they are also persuasive, tricky, and sometimes threatening. Again, under pressure the elderly often make poor choices, are easily confused, and for some reason they don't consult their family (maybe they want to demonstrate their independence).

My father-in-law recently had a $4000 water softener installed in his 1600 sq. foot house that's about 75 years old. The house doesn't even have a dishwasher and it needs kitchen and bathroom remodeling, new carpets, and a new roof but he had the water softener put in because some sales guy convinced him to. My father-in-law lives by himself now as his wife died a decade ago and he didn't bother to consult any of his children prior to his purchase. Shamefully, I told my wife he was an idiot for it but in reality he made a poor choice due to his age and dementia. But in his case, he wasn't really scammed as he got what he paid for, he just fell for the salesman's persuasion.

In my opinion, the criminals in Jamaica that are targeting the elderly in the lotto and other scams are 100% responsible for their actions and should be held accountable. My wife and I just got back from our first trip to Negril a couple of weeks ago and while we had a great time, we had several people who tried to scam us. I wasn't going to write a review but maybe I will to let others know what we encountered.

[Accompong]

"Americans send millions of dollars to Jamaicans because they "won" millions of dollars in a contest they never entered and need to send payment to collect their "winnings""

The actual quote should have been

Sending money to scammers to collect on Lottery winnings when we didn't even play a lottery and now they fight over the business it brings in.

What you wrote just may actually be true but not what I wrote. The fact remains that a little less than $10,000 US is a Million Dollars in Jamaica so I am pretty sure the volume of money sent would incrementally exceed a million dollars US or much more. The problem is that it isn't only old "non tech savvy" people who are falling for this but also a good number of younger "greedy" people as well. Plus, they give out a lot of personal information that eventually gets used or sold to commit more theft. I live in Jamaica just a few miles from an epicenter of lotto scammers on the St. James/St. Elizabeth border. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lates...n-St-Elizabeth Although this started out in the urban centers, the access of island-wide Internet has enabled it to get more popular in rural, less policed areas.

My overall point was not the blaming of anyone, including trusting victims, but to answer JohnGs question which asked "What has happened to the Jamaicans???" It has just gotten too easy to scam and not work, to smuggle and not work and to emigrate and not work instead of an honest hard days work for an honest payment. And, in that, we are making it too easy and thus carry some responsibility for the situation.

I travel as I live. I don't reward bad behavior. That is why I find it rewarding and satisfying to be living in rural Jamaica both giving and receiving Respect!

Peace and Guidance

[bksmm]

What you wrote just may actually be true but not what I wrote.

Hi Accompong, I was replying to Rob and the quote that I mentioned was his. Sorry if that wasn't clear. While the majority of victims in the lotto scam are the elderly, some younger people are also swayed by the constant schemes and lies of the scammers. I think it's more fair to label the younger victims as naïve or gullible instead of greedy. They grow up under their parents' protection and haven't learned the lesson of hard knocks yet. The "greedy" are the criminals who do deserve all of the blame.

[Rob]

Hi Accompong, I was replying to Rob and the quote that I mentioned was his. Sorry if that wasn't clear. While the majority of victims in the lotto scam are the elderly, some younger people are also swayed by the constant schemes and lies of the scammers. I think it's more fair to label the younger victims as naïve or gullible instead of greedy. They grow up under their parents' protection and haven't learned the lesson of hard knocks yet. The "greedy" are the criminals who do deserve all of the blame.

bksmm,

I am in no way blaming the victim, the perpetrator made the contact in the first place. But when trying to explain it, I used quotation marks as no one "won" anything and there were no "winnings" for the non existent lottery. All I can do is help people not become a victim of the scam.