A NEW immigration scam is luring Jamaicans to the Bahamas with the promise of employment for a price, then billing them of almost $1,000 and leaving them jobless.
Police say this tactic is primarily used between charlatans based in the Bahamas and their immigrant victims in Jamaica.
A source yesterday told The Tribune of a scheme where immigrants are brought to the Bahamas from Jamaica by a former policeman who charges each of them $700$1,000 while promising that the money will enable him to find them a job and file the necessary papers with the Immigration Department.
“When they arrive he collects the full $700 or $1,000 and they are taken to a motel for the night and are told he will be back for them in the morning to complete the necessary papers. That is usually the last these immigrants see of him.
“As they are unable to pay their motel bill, having given away all their money, they are asked to leave. These jobs are advertised in the Gleaner, a well-known Jamaican newspaper, so are assumed to be legitimate,” the source said.
Immigration Minister Vincent Peet told The Tribune yesterday that the issue of Bahamians advertising in Jamaica for the provision of jobs in the Bahamas is being “aggressively discouraged”.
“We are concerned about this issue and we have heard that in this case you mention. there might have been a contract involved and persons may have returned home to Jamaica with a partial refund.
“This is not a practice we encourage and we ask persons to come forward so that we can flush out anyone who may be involved in this practice,” said the minister.
Assistant Commissioner in charge of crime Reginald Ferguson admitted that police are investigating schemes like this but could not comment on specifics.
“Police are investigating some similar matters.
“We find that persons are getting the word around about jobs being available or persons being able to provide work permits.
“They bring the people to this country, put them up in some place, take their money and the immigrants find that they are deceived, or a part of something they did not expect, or find themselves in the hands of the law,” he said.
Many times these exploited persons are preyed upon primarily because they are in a position where they feel they are not entitled to go to the authorities.
“There is nothing we can do until persons complain and the fact that these immigrants are in a position where they feel they can get no recourse from the law is exactly how persons prey on them.
“They are in a delicate situation and they can’t complain so they just feel as if they have to return to where they come from,” Mr Ferguson said.
By RUPERT MISSICK Jr, Tribune Chief Reporter
