T&T: PM Rowley almost scammed into making substantial deposit to Chinese bank
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley says he will be referring to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) as well as “all other relevant authorities” a scam which had him announcing that he and several other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders had received “a substantial grant” from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
In a statement posted on the official Facebook page of the Office of the Prime Minister, Rowley said that last Saturday, whilst in Guyana, the CARICOM chairman, John Briceno, who is also the Prime Minister of Belize, “communicated with me that the Office of the Secretary-General of the UN wanted to reach me and a couple of other Caricom Heads to advise us that he had received a substantial grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to be distributed among us in its ongoing poverty alleviation programme”.
Rowley said that he returned a call to the Secretary-General on Sunday, whose number and profile picture he has on his phone, and “thought nothing unusual of this up to this point since the Gates Foundation had made grants to Trinidad and Tobago at least twice before.
“This being so, I mentioned at the press conference on Sunday that I was advised that we are to be allocated another grant as described. Today, I attempted to speak to the SG on the number I was carrying on my phone but could only communicate by WhatsApp and not voice.”
Rowley said a “person purporting to be the SG attempted to encourage me to use a foreign bank to receive this grant, but there would be a significant processing fee.
“My suspicion was further aroused when the person on the other end attempted to guide me towards making a substantial deposit in a Chinese bank as a prerequisite to receiving the grant. Having requested and not received any documentation and being contacted in a familiarity not generally associated with the Office of the SG, I was now convinced that this was a brazen scam being run shockingly as described. “
Prime Minister Rowley said he subsequently checked with the CARICOM chairman “to see what was happening at his end.
“He forwarded a stream of WhatsApp messages purporting to be coming from the Secretary-General attempting to reinforce the confidence trick through the involvement of this other high office.
“Please be advised that I am satisfied that there is no grant but that there is a bold attempt to scam countries through impersonation and identity theft. I will be referring this matter to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service and all other relevant authorities,” Rowley wrote.
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