Businesses told: beware of con artists

GEORGE TOWN – Scammers, skimmers, crooked contractors and fake charity organisers were among the wide range of con artists about whom members of Cayman’s business community were warned at a fraud seminar held last week.Speakers, who included special agents from the American Secret Service, local police, and a banknote manufacturer, gave members of the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce tips on how to spot scams, counterfeit money and fraudsters at the one-day seminar last Wednesday.Marcia Brown, a United States Secret Service special agent, told the audience that identity theft was becoming a huge problem in the United States, accounting for 74.5 per cent of all cases the Secret Service dealt with last year. “It is surpassing drug trafficking as our number one crime,” she said.“We’re seeing about nine to 10 million victims of identity theft a year and those numbers continue to increase. As access to the Internet is easier, the victim rate starts to get a lot higher . . . No one is immune,” she said.She also warned of a growing spate of charity scams. “Charity scams are another big scam we are starting to see, particularly with some of the natural disasters we are seeing around the world. Everybody wants to get in on making some quick money. When it comes to donations, we encourage people to do some research, look online, ask questions, go to your Chamber of Commerce website, or Better Business Bureau sites. Try to find out who the people are who are collecting,” she advised.She urged those in the banking and financial services industry to ask questions of clients and customers who wanted to make investments or unusual payments, such as, is the venture in which they want to invest asking them for credit card or bank account numbers up front and if they are being asked to wire money quickly, through Western Union or MoneyGram.“Anytime you feel any pressure at all to act quickly, whether to collect a prize or buy into some type of venture, you need to be really wary of that,” Brown said.She also advised people to check the requests or emails they received for proper spelling and grammar as scam originating in countries where English was not the primary language. “If the venture was legitimate, you’d think they would take the time to get the language right,” she said.Stuart Bostock, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said: “One thing is for certain, fraud is not a problem limited to big businesses nor is it a victimless crime – on the contrary – as we all suffer when our local businesses lose money in this way. Business owners have to adjust their product or service costs to keep afloat, or in some instances may close their doors all together.” (CayCompass.com)