Scammer says poor economic mobility makes illegal money attractive

Several years after abandoning an engineering career for the millions he says can be made through scamming, Marcus* is not asking Jamaicans to absolve him of his crimes.

Instead, he wants them to examine the economic environment that made illegal money attractive to him.

“I’m not saying people don’t have a right to believe what I’m doing is wrong. I’m saying before you judge the person, examine the environment that produced the behaviour,” he told THE STAR. When THE WEEKEND STAR previously spoke with Marcus, the then 34-year-old revealed that his ‘regular’ job paid a little more than $250,000 monthly. But he claimed that in scamming, a ‘disappointing’ month could bring in about $2 million, with considerably more earned in lucrative months.