It's like the third world version of identity theft and popular sports personality Matthew Smiling says that he's the victim. Smiling today told us that in mid October he began receiving calls at his business from Belizeans asking about packages that had been sent for them from relatives in the states. From what Smiling has been able to piece together, someone going by the name Allan Smiling operating out of Chicago and Los Angeles contracts to ship items from those major cities to Belize. He tells his clients that the pickup spot is Smiling Meats in Belize City. And to furnish proof he offers them the real phone numbers, cellular and home line for Matthew Smiling. A full out scam because the packages never make it to Belize. It first appeared in September, and now its recurring for Christmas and Smiling called us to make people aware of the scam - and to put the word out that he is not a freight forwarder.
Mathew Smiling,
"At first we didn't pay any attention to it, we didn't know any Allan Smiling. But the calls kept coming and then I started questioning people - why are they asking for Allan Smiling and people started telling me that there is someone by the name of Allan Smiling in Chicago that has been collecting stuff under the pretense of, he has a trucking service and he brings stuff to Belize and they have been giving our home number and address to come and pick up stuff. We don't know any Allan Smiling and over and over people have been coming here and also calling and looking for Allan Smiling to get their stuff. The first calls we could hear the distress in the people's voices by the tone of their voice. But after we started questioning the people and explaining to them that that person doesn't have anything to do with our business here and we don't know that person then people started to understand that it was a con. Apparently there are some valuables in those packages that they have sent with this person. At first I thought it was only Chicago but this week we had two persons already who came and their relatives have given the persons stuff in California."
Matthew Smiling says he's not in the business of shipping or moving goods from the States.
