A complainant who lost $3 500 in an online car purchase scam has been compensated, following a hearing in the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court.
Acting Chief Magistrate Douglas Frederick issued a warning to the public after Christaf Akeim Henry, 30, of King Street, The City, pleaded guilty to stealing the money from Tajari Haynes on March 27.
“These are the things that members of the public have to be so careful with when they want to buy things online. I want the public to be aware of this and take note, because this is a new frontier and what is happening out there,” Frederick said.
Haynes told the court he had seen a Toyota NZE 2006 for sale online and was asked to deposit $3 500 after receiving a “printout of what has to happen”. He admitted it was “a bad decision” to pay before seeing the car.
He recounted: “When I was calling back to get a date to see the car, nobody wasn’t answering and when I said I would like back the money, the person say I would have to pay a fine of $1 500 to get back my money and I said ‘That does not make sense’ and then I went to the police.”
But Chief Magistrate Frederick warned: “When you see things like that, do not out your money like that and you have to meet people like this in a place that is public and with security. So I hope you learnt a lot from this.”
Attorney Summer Hassell, representing Henry, said her client had only collected the money at a friend’s request and was unaware of the deception. He was however willing to repay the funds.
Frederick ordered that Henry, a Jamaican visiting the island, be handed over to Immigration for consideration, placing him on a nine-month bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. Breach of the bond would mean three months in prison, with a conviction recorded.
Failure to pay $3 500 compensation would also have resulted in a three‑month prison term.
The money was repaid.
(JB)
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