Grenadians Losing Millions through Online Financial Scams
Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Tafawa Pierre, says Grenadians have been fleeced out of millions of dollars as a result of online financial scams.
Pierre is urging nationals to be extremely cautious about accepting online financial initiatives and that they should contact the FIU in determining whether the messages are authentic.
Pierre says he estimates that people had lost seven million dollars over the past few years but there is every indication that the figures have increased.
“It’s now about EC$10 million they are defrauded. We have two particular persons who each lost in excess of EC$1.5 million that was sent over a one year period.
“We have a situation where a lady sold her house, right in Grenada here and sent every penny out to people whom she never met in the pursuit of some loan or business,” he said.
“If you are going to spend such amount of money then hire somebody to look after your business. You can spend EC$100,000 less by paying it to an attorney who looks into this thing and see if it’s true,” Pierre advised.
He said that the scammers are using different formats to attract persons and innovative ways for the illegal business to strive.
These include forex market, offering fake grant and fake cheque deposits.