One of the country’s leading business organisations, the T&T Chamber of Commerce, has been named as a facilitator in what appears to be an identity-theft scam. The scam, which calls on people to provide personal details to receive large sums of cash, as part of an international lottery, is not original.
What is original is the organisation’s brazen response that the T&T Chamber of Commerce had provided names to be submitted for a “chance lottery”. For several months people in T&T have been receiving letters from the Superlotto Millionario Commission, which said they had won millions of dollars. The organisation, which has an address in Madrid, Spain, has a company stamp as well as the signature of the commission’s vice-president Geraldo Rivera Franklin.
It calls on recipients to contact its international office assistant lawyer, barrister Torres Martin Fernandez, of De Heritage Security Company, and give a telephone and fax number. Evelyn Phillip, a T&T national, received two such letters in the past month, along with an attached form to be filled out and mailed to the Superlotto Millionario Commission.
The T&T Guardian called the phone number, and a man with what was possibly a Nigerian accent, who identified himself only as a lawyer, said Phillip was one of 15 international winners of US$950,000. The man recited Phillip’s address, asking for confirmation of her identity, through a reference number provided on the letter, and then confirmed that she was from T&T. He then asked for her to send a copy of her national ID card, driver’s licence and a utility bill as well as a scanned photo.
When asked how he got Phillip’s address, the man said it was provided by the Chamber of Commerce. Asked which Chamber of Commerce, he said the T&T Chamber of Commerce.
Kumar: Not us
But in a response to queries on the lottery yesterday, CEO of the T&T Chamber Catherine Kumar stated categorically that the chamber was not in the habit of giving out and had not given out any personal contact information for its members or their representatives. “We would urge people receiving any correspondence or other communication, particularly to solicit money, to beware of claims to that effect,” she warned.
“They should not disclose any personal banking information or transfer funds without due diligence.”
