JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Rise in online robberies worry cops

by

Akash Samaroo
1220 days ago
20211111
Acting Senior Supt Terrance Nobee shares a moment with Trinidad and Tobago Police Service’s Public Information Officer, ASP Sheridon Hill, during the weekly police media briefing in Port-of-Spain yesterday.

Acting Senior Supt Terrance Nobee shares a moment with Trinidad and Tobago Police Service’s Public Information Officer, ASP Sheridon Hill, during the weekly police media briefing in Port-of-Spain yesterday.

ABRAHAM DIAZ

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) is warn­ing the pub­lic about rob­beries re­lat­ed to on­line busi­ness trans­ac­tions, some­thing of­fi­cers are call­ing “a new phe­nom­e­non.”

At yes­ter­day’s TTPS me­dia brief­ing, act­ing Se­nior Supt Joseph Chan­dool said, “These are in­stances where peo­ple try to trans­act sales on­line and meet at a lo­ca­tion, and are then robbed of their cash or com­mod­i­ty for sale.”

Chan­dool said the TTPS is en­cour­ag­ing peo­ple to meet at a safe venue to con­duct such ac­tiv­i­ty.

“The ex­ec­u­tive urges peo­ple to use the po­lice sta­tion as their meet­ing place. If some­one asks to do so and the oth­er par­ty re­fus­es, that ought to be a red flag and that alone lets you know that every­thing is not above board.”

Chan­dool said this is a se­ri­ous cause for con­cern for the TTPS, as peo­ple are los­ing their hard-earned com­modi­ties and cash. Say­ing they be­lieve one re­port is one too many, he said they have had some suc­cess­es in bring­ing peo­ple to jus­tice for these crimes.

“The Cy­ber Crime Unit is ac­tive and en­gag­ing the sit­u­a­tion, it is a ro­bust op­er­a­tion, I can­not give the num­bers at present but we have had some suc­cess­es.”

In Ju­ly this year, the TTPS an­nounced that it had made a ma­jor dent in an on­line rob­bery ring.

Twen­ty-four-year-old Jef­frey Joseph, of East Dry Riv­er, Port-of-Spain, was ar­rest­ed in con­nec­tion with this mat­ter. Po­lice be­lieved he was the main sus­pect in a se­ries of re­ports of on­line scams and rob­beries.

The TTPS said then that Joseph was the sixth sus­pect to be ar­rest­ed and charged in the Port-of-Spain Di­vi­sion in con­nec­tion with these types of on­line rob­beries. Five oth­ers were charged in April 2021.

The po­lice said po­ten­tial buy­ers re­spond­ed to what was lat­er learned to be fic­ti­tious on­line ad­ver­tise­ments and they were di­rect­ed to un­fa­mil­iar lo­ca­tions. Once there, po­lice were told, they were robbed of their prop­er­ty and cash. The po­lice are there­fore urg­ing ex­treme vig­i­lance dur­ing this Christ­mas sea­son.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored