A man was today charged by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) with three counts of conspiracy to commit a felony.
Jaffon Hinds of Lot 106 Downer Street, Grove, East Bank Demerara appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates before Her Worship Zamina Ally where he pleaded not guilty to the charges and was granted $30,000 bail on each count.
Based on reports received by SOCU, Jaffon Hinds, who is a Production Administrator at Caribbean Containers Incorporated, allegedly collected the sum of $502,340 from a woman on three separate occasions.
He was alleged to have acted as a third party for another person who befriended the woman via Facebook.
The victim claimed she sent the money to Jaffon Hinds using Western Union money transfer after she was instructed to do so by her Facebook ‘boyfriend’, who promised her a huge package with lots of expensive items.
To date she has never received any package and her Facebook ‘boyfriend’ has since ceased contact with her.
The matter was investigated by SOCU and the suspect was arrested and charged. The matter was adjourned until August 15, 2022.
It was only in April 2022 that the Head of SOCU, Assistant Commissioner Fazil Karimbaksh, warned of a sharp rise in such cases.
Karimbaksh indicated that “Package Delivery” and “Romance” scams became more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic as scammers targeted primarily women via several social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as online dating sites.
