“This
is not just limited to the security forces but of any organisation in Jamaica,
but for a small unit within the Major Organised Crime Agency. The over 600
arrests with convictions to all that came through the system is an excellent record”
Minister of National
Security Peter Bunting during a press Conference on Monday August 5th 2014
responding to allegations that Scamming has gotten worse
Despite
the implementation of the Law Reform Fraudulent Transaction Special Provisions
Act and the related Cybercrime Act as I’d reported back in June 2013 in my blog
article entitled “GOJ
amends the CyberCrime Act of 2010, enlists Ethical Hackers in a Cyber Emergency
Response Team - White Hat Hackers are the Q.U.E.E.N Project Janelle Monae and
Erica Badu Style”, scamming is now on the rise.
 |
This
according to an article in the Associated Press that points out the scammers
have merely shifted their tactics and have found new, more sophisticated ways
to get money via scamming, an indication that the situation is getting worse,
not better.
Minister
of National Security Peter Bunting, with his reputation on the line, has
claimed otherwise to journalists at a Press Conference held on Monday August 5th
2014, citing some 600 arrested and charged of Lotto Scamming under the new Act as
stated in “Lotto
scammers under pressure, says Bunting”, published Tuesday August 5, 2014 by
Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer, The
Jamaica Gleaner.
To
quote Minister of National Security Peter Bunting: “Therefore, I don't think
there is any basis to suggest that the situation has got any worse; I believe
[it has] improved .... Certainly from the intelligence that we get on the
ground, the suggestion is that the scammers are under a lot of pressure”.
He
cited the fact that there are some 20 cases that have gone through the Legal
system in collaboration with the US Authorities that have resulted in
convictions and possible extraditions to face legal proceeding abroad, quote: “My
feedback from the US law enforcement is that the US considered the level of
cooperation as unprecedented”.
How scammers are on the
Rebound – Money Laundering is the new Tool For Scammers
Well,
scammers naturally would be under pressure if this much firepower, both legally
and in terms of the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) aka the Jamaican Police,
was brought to bear against them. But as usual with these Ministries of
Government in Jamaica, the devil is in the statistical details.
The
most obvious is the claim of 600 arrested and charged under the Law Reform
Fraudulent Transaction Special Provisions Act and the related Cybercrime Act.
This is being touted as a sign of “unprecedented” cooperation.
But
these arrests took place over a 15 month period according to the article. That
breaks down to 40 persons arrested per month. But over that same period, only
20 cases have been tried and convicted. Thus, albeit they have arrested and
charged 600 persons for certain breaking aspects of the Law Reform Fraudulent
Transaction Special Provisions Act and the related Cybercrime Act, they’ve only
managed 20 cases and convictions, effectively a 3% efficiency rate.
The
US authorities would naturally say this; other countries that they’ve had to
deal relating to Scamming and Cybercrime, which is an aspect of Scamming and is
closely related, are dictatorships and countries with foreign policies hostile
to the Barack Obama Administration. Thus, that fact we’re “cooperating” is
being congratulated in a bid for the Americans to get more information from our
Law Enforcement based on information that they supply us about suspected
Scammers.
As
we Jamaicans would say, “encouragement sweeten labour”, albeit Jamaicans
cooperation is more of a fear of repercussions from Uncle Sam from the North as
opposed to genuine concerns over scamming victims in the US of A. Truth be
told, we’re more afraid of their sanctions, so any action on our part to make
us look like we’re “cooperating” would naturally be lauded by the Minister of
National Security Peter Bunting to make it appear in the eyes of the public
that we’re doing something.
Scammers working with
Hackers - Money Laundering is the new Tool For Scammers
In
reality, 3% barely scratches the surface of the scamming problem. Worse,
scammers have gotten more sophisticated.
They
no longer need to get their lead lists from Call Centers as I’d described in my
blog
article entitled
 |
They’re
now dabbleing in areas that are more akin to Hacking and phishing to create
lead lists. They also no longer flash cash; it’s all in the form of Prepaid
Debit Cards as described in my blog
article entitled “Jamaican
Music Industry 2 Years post-Ban - How Artiste and Booking Agents Launder Money”.
Based
on my sources working in the Call Centers with whom I communicate, their latest
methods involve setting up websites that advertise sweepstakes or even allow
persons to gamble and pay for Supreme Ventures Lottery games e.g. Cash Pot,
Super Lotto Draw, etc, even though most of those persons accessing these
websites are Americans and Europeans!
Scammers
still buy lead lists. But they no longer need to do so from Call centers, say
my Call Center Sources. Instead, they can buy their lists from shady Hacking
Community made up of mostly Gangs of hackers.
These
Gangs are spread across the US of A, Russia, Brazil and even as far as China,
who regularly pummel the Servers of the US Government with organized botnet
attacks as described in my blog
article entitled “Norse
map indicates USA needs a Return of the Jedi as the Empire Strikes Back at
Chinese Hackers”.
They
also attack more popular websites such as EBay and Amazon, seeking to steal
logins and passwords by exploiting vulnerabilities in their websites and
overall security using the tried and tested Botnet Army.
Scammers and Hackers meet
– 1.2 billion Logins and Passwords for sale from Russian Hackers
Scammers
meets these hackers in the Hacker Underworld at chatrooms in Darkweb websites
communicating via mIRC, PGP encrypted email or simply even *.pdf files sent as
attachments in email as explained in my blog
article entitled “How
to Create PDF Documents using PDFCreator”.
Facebook
and Social Media are avoided; too easy to eavesdrop on conversations even in
Messenger on those websites. Also no phone Calls except VoIP, which means that
the current VoIP blockade as described in my blog
article entitled “Telecom
Providers await OUR’s Judgement on VoIP Bypass – Viber is on the rebound but
USF Revenue for GOJ means they’ll win” is hurting scammers right now
The
persons these scammers strike deals with are hackers who glean the information
from websites such as GOJ (Government of Jamaica) websites hacked using an army
of Botnets and a variety of hacking tools as detailed in my blog
article entitled “GOJ
securing Government Websites against Hackers - Linux-based GovNET to remove
Windows vulnerabilities and change Human Behaviour”.
This
information hacked from Jamaican websites as well as American and European
Websites is just as data rich as a Lead list and contains:
1.
Names
2.
Addresses
3.
Emails
4.
Phone Numbers
5.
Social Security Numbers
6.
TRN
7.
NIS
8.
NHT
9.
Passport No
10.
Driver’s License
11.
Login and password pairs
Lead Lists from Hackers
– Why break in when you can steal the key and open the door
Scammers
then buy these improved lead lists for Jamaican as well as Lead lists from
hackers abroad for American and European Citizens. Right now, you can get a
list of 1.2 billion logins and passwords gleaned from some 420,000 websites
over a one year period by a Russian Hacking Gang as reported in “Hackers
nab 1.2B passwords in colossal breach, says security firm”, published
August 5, 2014 6:10 PM PDT by Dara Kerr, CNET
News.
According
to that article, they’d used software to basically scan for vulnerabilities in
these websites using common Network analysis tools. Once they located these
vulnerabilities, they then set up their botnet networks and hacked their way
in…..exactly as I’d described in my blog
article entitled “GOJ
securing Government Websites against Hackers - Linux-based GovNET to remove
Windows vulnerabilities and change Human Behaviour”.
That’s
all that’s needed.
Websites
offering the chance to win Lottery Prizes or play lottery games, prompting
gamblers to spend money in order to win at a game of chance. As for the lead
lists obtained from hackers, the scammers can send targets emails with links in
it that prompt the person to click in order to get a prize.
Once
they’re clicked, these scammers with the help of hacker, would basically be
able to install keyloggers on the target computers and in the process, record all keystrokes on your
machine and harvest a lot of personal information as explained in my blog
article entitled “Professor
Marco Gercke warns of Scammers using Keyloggers for Spear Phishing - How to use
Keyloggers and how to Protect yourself from Scammer's American Hustle for Fast
Cash”.
Minister of National
Security Peter Bunting misguided – Scamming is switching gears
The
Scammer of days gone by is now a relic of the past. Those are the bulk of the
600 persons that the Minister of National Security Peter Bunting. Instead,
hackers have gone “legit”, opting to use Lead Lists obtained online to get
Personal Information to initiate Scams. They no longer revolve around the
lottery but they do involve the victim having to pay money to play lottery
games online.
And
no more extravagant living or cash spent in public; they now collect their cash
in Bank Accounts linked to Prepaid Debit Cards, as they understand the Banking
System a lot better now. They realize that the best way to scam is to do so
through the biggest scammer of all – the Jamaican Central Bank.
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