Narayan AmmachchiThe Jamaican government has announced a sweeping crackdown on lottery scamming, describing the crime as a growing threat to the country’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, one of its largest sources of foreign exchange earnings.
Following a meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the government pledged to strengthen anti-scam laws, increase criminal penalties, and intensify action against organized criminal networks, according to local media reports.
The council expressed concern that lottery scamming has driven up the cost of doing business, weakening Jamaica’s competitiveness in the global outsourcing market.
The industry, popularly known as the call center sector, has come under increasing pressure in recent years. According to The Jamaica Gleaner, employment in the BPO sector has fallen from about 60,000 workers to 40,000, while annual foreign exchange earnings have declined to between US$700 million and US$900 million.
Despite the slowdown, the sector remains one of Jamaica’s largest export industries and a key pillar of the economy.
As part of the crackdown, the government plans to modernize lottery scam legislation and align its legal framework with international standards on cybercrime and digital fraud.
The new measures will strengthen intelligence gathering, investigations, prosecutions, and asset recovery while tightening regulatory oversight of call centers and other digital service providers across the country.
Holness said Jamaica cannot aspire to become a leading nearshore outsourcing destination while allowing organized criminal enterprises to flourish.
He reiterated that “economic security is national security”, and said the government is committed to eliminating lottery scamming while supporting the industry’s transition toward higher-value knowledge process outsourcing and AI-enabled business services.
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