Convicts In
Costa Rica Prison Defraud Victims With New
Scam: Raffles
Being locked up behind bars of the La
Reforma prison hasn't stopped criminals from
separating the unsuspecting from their
money, with the latest scheme, offering
raffles for appliances and even food
baskets. The Organismo de Investigación
Judicial (OIJ) reports during the first six
months of this year there have been 77
complaints of fraud by convicts in La
Reforma.
The oIJ says that in most of the cases,
calls from convicts at the prison were made
extorting families for the safety and well
being of a family member. And while the
extortion tactic also included demanding
ransom for stolen vehicles, convicts have
now added the raffle scam to their tactics.
Francisco Segura, subdirector of the OIJ,
says that there has been an increase of the
raffle scam, while the extortion threats
have dropped.
Convicts from the prison ask their victim,
using a cellular phone smuggled into the
prison, to deposit a sum of money into a
specified bank account to claim a prize.
In the majority of the cases reported,
convicts have been using the older TDMA
technology phones since the system to block
cellular waves at the prison only work on
GSM phones.
Prison officials installed the call blocking
devices at the prison when convicts began
using cellular phones to perpetrate their
scams after officials installing a system on
the landline payphones advising that the
call was coming from the prison.
Segura said that they have been receiving an
average of 7 complaints a month for the
raffle scam, victims being scammed out of
between 80.000 colones and 1.5 million
colones.
The OIJ is asking to not fall victim to such
scams where one is asked to pay a sum of
money up front to claim a prize.
Judicial authorities say people should not
pay attention to these types of calls,
avoiding falling victims.
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