By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

A senior police officer yesterday warned that Bahamians have lost a substantial amount of money to so-called ‘smishing’ scams since the start of 2025.

Inspector Omar Neely, an offcer with the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s financial crimes investigation branch, did not disclose the sum of money that victims have lost to this fraud. Speaking at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE) 11th annual fraud and ethics conference that since January, he explained that while ‘phishing’ scams lure victims of financial crimes through links sent in fake e-mail messages, ‘smishing’ involves the sending of SMS text messages to mobile phones. Both are attempts to gain access to a persons’ bank account information and funds.

Inspector Neely also warned on other financial scams, including so-called ‘romance’ fraud which typically targets women between the ages of 60 and 75. He said women will be courted in some manner and then asked to hand over funds under false pretenses.

The officer also warned that businesses often have their e-mails compromised “where someone, by however means, can access your e-mail or your clients’ email or one of your vendors”. In an attempt to combat such scams, the Financial Crimes Investigation branch and banks have begun to spread awareness among all age groups.

“We’ve been going around to various places such as these, and giving talks, educational talks, about the trends going around,” Inspector Neely said. “There’s also crime circulars, where we talk about prevention. We tell people not to click the links. I know, if you’ve seen a few of them around town, as well as banks have been sending similar circulars stating that we don’t ask you to give us your username and password.

“We don’t ask you your password on the phone. We don’t send you those kind of messages requesting information. So we’re partnered with banks. We’re sending our correspondents around, our circulars, and we’re also seeing many banks sending circulars around.”

Inspector Neely also encouraged Bahamians to be vigilant and implement measures to keep their financial information safe. “Try to put in measures, systems to safeguard yourselves,” he said.

“You want to get the surveillance cameras. You want to have the mobile car ports. You want to have proper vetting. Police also assist in those things. Just be vigilant. You see something, say something. Report matters of concern to the police as soon as possible, and you’ll be fine”