Status Scam
Tuesday, September 7, 2004
A swindle in which a scam artist is collecting money from people and
promising Caymanian Status in return was discovered by Cayman Net News last
week.
Speaking anonymously, a female resident Jamaican national said that she and
16 others paid $1,300 each to a man who said he knew a Member of the Legislative
Assembly that could get Caymanian Status for the payment. The money was said to
represent “the Status fee, plus a filing fee.”
The woman paid the money to the man in the parking lot of a bank, and also
handed over her passport to him. According to the woman who spoke with Cayman
Net News, all of the other people swindled were of Jamaican nationality except
one, who was from another Caribbean country. She said that both the police and
Immigration Department had been made aware of the on-going scam, which she said
began two months ago.
The woman said that she had heard about the money-for-Status offer through a
tenant of her employer, so she had thought it legitimate.
After paying the money to a “Mr Ebans” she said was of Caymanian and Jamaican
decent, the man asked if she knew anyone else who wanted Status. “He said the
more people I got, the better it would be,” she said. “He also said that the
payments had to be made by a certain date because after that the MLA said it
would be against the law.”
The woman admitted she told several other people about the offer who later
also paid the man $1,300. She also heard reports that many others had been
cheated.
Although attempts to obtain a comment from the Royal Cayman Islands Police
Service were unsuccessful, Chief Immigration Officer Franz Manderson did admit
that his office had received a number of complaints. “I cannot comment any
further about the situation because it is under investigation,” he said.
Informed that several people had placed classified Status ads in the
newspaper recently, Mr Manderson pointed out that there was no longer any reason
for that. “The new immigration law does away with that and sets out a whole new
process for the right to become Caymanian,” he said.
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