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Could Jersey rent scams be stopped [or at least reduced] by the JFSC?
01/08/2022
The Jersey Police have reported that people have been conned out of a large amount of money when trying to rent a home from online listings. [see the full story below].
In reading this sad story, I wish to point out
- Any Jersey businesses that administer, manage money or take deposits from the public must be registered [as a supervised person] with the JFSC
- However, this registration is not public.
- Therefore there is no way to CHECK on who you are passing your hard-earned money to see if they are fit and proper [not crooks] with adequate systems and controls.
What are the rules?
- Under Jersey's PROCEEDS OF CRIME (JERSEY) LAW 1999*[THE LAW], any business [e.g. property agents] must register with the JFSC if:-
- Who administer or manage funds [money] and/or accepts ANY FORM of deposit or other repayable funds from any third party
- Accepts payment in cash of €15,000 [£12.5k] or more for one or more transactions from the same customer is caught by the law and must also register with the JFSC
- To be registered/licenced [as a JFSC AML supervised person], firms must
- Prove they have adequate systems, control, policies and procedures.
- Must have compliance officers [MLROs] and reporting officers [MLROs]
- And in being a supervised person, the JFSC can visit them
- And not being registered and approved the business is committing a criminal offence
The problem
- However, this registration is not public. Therefore there is no way to CHECK on who you are passing your hard-earned money to see if they are fit and proper with adequate systems and controls.
My question and solution
- The question is, should there be a public register of all supervised persons [I say yes]
- If all supervised people were all on a public "register", people could check the regulatory status of someone asking for their hard-earned money
- My idea will not stop overseas scammers, but if local people can deal with legitimate Jersey businesses, which they can check on, everyone is a winner [apart from the scammers]
Who can fix this
- Jersey government and the JFSC?
Supporting info below
*PROCEEDS OF CRIME (JERSEY) LAW 1999
SCHEDULE 2
(Article 36(1) and (2))
FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESS
SCHEDULE 2
PART B
OTHER BUSINESS
4 High-value dealers:
7 Other services
(1) The business of providing any of the following services to third parties, where the business is not otherwise included in this Schedule –
(a) Acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public;
(n) Otherwise investing, administering or managing funds or money on behalf of third parties.
https://www.jerseylaw.je/laws/current/Pages/08.780.aspx#_Toc106888568
Full story:-
- The Jersey Police have reported that people have been conned out of money when trying to rent a home from online listings. The force have dealt with more than 20 cases in the last two years, with more than £22,500 known to have been lost.
- Scammers have been stealing people's online identities to falsely advertise properties. David Turnbull, inspector of community policing, said:
- "The scammer will contact them, say they've got a lot of people looking at this property, you're going to have to act very quickly and I think you need to leave a deposit so you don't miss out.
- "Normally around a couple of hundred pounds and we've seen some in excess of a thousand pounds."
Source
End
JERSEY