The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) has sent out a stern warning about a fake Facebook profile under the name of President David Granger, which has been extorting monies from persons in exchange for land.
According to the Authority, the sham was set up through a profile named “His Excellency President David Granger” and has been informing persons that the Ministry of the Presidency is distributing housing units to interested persons. Persons are being asked to make a down payment through the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company’s (GTT) Mobile Money system and the money disappears, the CH&PA said on Saturday.
“We are asking members of the public to be wary of scammers who may want to rob them of their hard-earned monies. The operation of a fake Facebook profile in the name of His Excellency President David Granger, informing the public that the Ministry of the Presidency is allocating 20 housing units to interested persons was brought to our attention. Interested persons are being asked to make a down payment of $350,000 through GTT’s Money Mobile System to an unknown account,” a statement said.
The CH&PA has denied its involvement in any such programme under the Ministry of the Presidency or other agencies. Further, legitimate programmes do not require payments through Money Mobile transfers, but rather through the Central Housing and Planning Authority’s Brickdam office or its regional offices.
Persons have been reporting these fraudulent matters and the Authority has encouraged for such to be done in any future matters. Just two months ago, First Lady Sandra Granger had cautioned about her name being used under the pretext of scholarships.
Addressing the issue, the First Lady said, “All scholarships offered by the Government are offered through the Department of Public Service… If you are informed that you are to get a scholarship, check it out, call and find out…These crooks are taking advantage of the naivety and the sensitivities of the people they are approaching… It is really a scam of the worst order because people are taking advantage of other people’s vulnerabilities. These people are going from one extreme to the next to make easy money out of vulnerable people.”
In April, a fraudster, Muhammad Ali, was arrested and placed before the court for impersonating the First Lady and tricking citizens into transferring money to him. The fraud managed to obtain 12 pennyweights of gold, worth $139,000 and $30,000 in GTT and Digicel phone cards, while pretending that he was in the position to grant scholarships to a young woman.
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