Western Union has temporarily shut down its services in Montego Bay, that is now the hot bed for a multimillion-dollar lottery scam that targets mostly elderly Americans.
Company spokesman Dan Diaz says Western Union locations in St. James parish, which includes the resort city of Montego Bay, will be closed for a systems review over the next two weeks. The scammers often use disposable cellular phones to cheat mostly elderly Americans out of their savings by requesting they transfer money to claim winnings from a lottery, which later turns out to be fake.
GraceKennedy Money Services, operators of Western Union locally in Jamaica, has stated that a team has already commenced work on a system to address security concerns which have led Western Union International to shut down its 14 locations in Montego Bay, St James.
Customers now have to travel to Hopewell, Hanover, and Falmouth to get Western Union services.