And turning now to Cyber Crime, we put the question of PHISHING scams in Belize's major banks to Commissioner of Police Chester Williams during this afternoon's press brief.
As we told you on Friday, the email scams have tricked many unsuspecting customers into clicking a link that then gives hackers electronic access to their accounts. They then iPhone off thousands of dollars and skip it through other accounts in Belizean banks - in what is believed to be a locally generated scam.
One victim - who lost over 15 thousand dollars - made a police report when his bank didn't want to give him a full refund.
Today the Commissioner of Police said he is optimistic about the investigation and laid out the steps he believes the investigators will have to take. He also indicated that these investigations will have to rely heavily on the police's partnership with the FIU.
Reporter
"There's been a complaint that precinct 4 in Belize City of cyber theft from someone's Heritage [bank] account. Are police investigating and are police even equip to investigate?"
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"Certainly, yes, police are investigating and yes we are equipped to do the investigation. With those type of investigations, we certainly will be aided tremendously by the FIU. They are the ones who have the legislative teeth to be able to make request to the banks and demand for the bank to do certain things and I listen attentively to Mr. Clare's presentation in the news on Friday and he made the point that Belizeans need to be aware of this local phishing that is happening with the banks and ensure that whenever you get those emails of text messages you do not click or whatever the term may be as it relates to that, What the investigation has to focus on is who are those persons sending those links. what accounts are link to those messages, because there is where the money is going and FIU do have the capability to able to get those information. So we are really optimistic that with those investigations we are going to be successful in finding the perpetrators."
