THE police yesterday arrested three women and a man in Spanish Town, St Catherine, and Mount Pleasant, Manchester, for their suspected involvement in an overseas employment fraud scheme.
They were nabbed during an operation, carried out by officers from the Major Organised Crime and Anti-corruption Agency (MOCA), Mobile Reserve SWAT and the Manchester operational support teams, along with members of the military. The opreation was another phase in an ongoing investigation.
MOCA said in a release yesterday that it received reports last November that people purporting to be employees of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security were fleecing money from unsuspecting individuals, who had hopes of gaining overseas employment.
The identities of the suspects, which were not released up to press time, were obtained during investigations and resulted in yesterday’s operation.
They were taken into custody for questioning with a view to laying charges.
Head of MOCA, Assistant Commissioner of Police Selvin Haye, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that overseas employment fraud schemes are widespread.
“I don’t know if the analytics would support these schemes being in concentrated areas,” Haye said. “With this particular case, investigations led us to those locations.”
He was not specific as it relates to the frequency with which lawmen come across these schemes, but said that they are dealt with as they arise.
In the meantime, Senior Superintendent of Police Dean Taylor, director of investigations at MOCA, is reminding the public that there is no service fee when seeking overseas employment through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s Overseas Employment Programme.
He also advised people who may have been fleeced of money under this scam to contact MOCA at 754-3435 or 906-5099 or 851-0113 or 1-800-CORRUPT or by email at