The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Unsuspecting jobless Bahamians are being lured into lured into money laundering schemes primarily through ‘Help Wanted’ advertisements placed in the newspapers, a Senator said yesterday, noting this trend was increasing.

Speaking at a seminar hosted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), attorney Cheryl Bazard said there was an “exploitation element” to such schemes.

“If you look at some of the ‘Help Wanted’ ads in the newspaper, they don’t tell you much,” said Mrs Bazard.

“If they say delivery person needed, you think you’re driving a car and taking letters to and from businesses. The last thing on your mind is that you will be shuffling cash and other monetary instruments around town for someone. They will not put the full thing out there.

“They’re not telling you what it’s all about. There is an exploitation element. Some people just want a job and they are not thinking what risk it poses for them, or what’s wrong with the picture.”

Mrs Bazard added that Bahamians were exposing themselves to prosecution because they are, even unwittingly, participating in a criminal offense.

Backing up the Senator, Kendrick Christie, a partner and certified fraud examiner (CFE) at Grant Thornton (Bahamas), explained: “There is a limit in terms of deposit. Typically, when you deposit, say $10,000, you have to have a source of funds; you have to say where the cash is coming from and sometimes provide support.

“If you’re dealing with a business where cash is heavily involved, you have to find a way to deposit money. What happens is you would engage 10 different people with a small amount of mone,y say $1,000 a piece.

“For doing that persons will get something in exchange. That’s how we believe it works. They would go to different banks. Coming in with $20,000 cash is going to raise eyebrows. If you are raising money you need to clean, you have to find a way to get it into the banking system, otherwise you’re expose to theft.”

Mr Christie said there also appears to be a rise in incidents of identity theft and advance payment schemes (advance fee frauds).

“We’re seeing a rise in identity theft, and the advance payments schemes where persons are using the Internet to set up up pages offering to sell various products, mostly vehicles,” the accountant said.

“Persons would be asked to make a deposit, they take your money but the vehicle never arrives. We’re seeing an uptick because it’s so easy to set up shop and make themselves appear legitimate when they have no intention of buying the vehicle.”