The elderly and women are among those being targeted by online fraudsters.
This comes from the Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, Larry Howai, who convened a high-level meeting of financial players and law enforcement entities in the local sector to address the growing online trend.
“I have noticed a very worrying trend of online fraud taking place and continuing to grow. The numbers are relatively small so my former colleagues in the Bankers’ Association may want to know the figure we actually have for the last few months is about $3.3 million.”
Governor Howai said it is important for the situation to be addressed in a timely manner.
“The trend I am seeing is a trend that I think we need to do something about and to nip in the bud, and therefore I thought it was important for us to get together as a community to talk about what we’re seeing, how we might be able to create a regime of restitution for those who lose money, and what kind of initiatives we could put in place to prevent these things from happening in the future.”
The Central Bank Governor highlighted the groupings that seem to be most susceptible to online fraud.
“Many times it’s the elderly, in fact, the largest percentage we have of online fraud relate to persons, to elderly persons. If you are a woman and you’re between the ages of 30 and 49 and you live somewhere in East or South Trinidad, you are probably about twice as likely to be defrauded.”
Representatives from the commercial banks, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service, and the Financial Intelligence Unit were among those called to the high-level meeting at the Central Bank.