Fake WhatsApp posting lured hundreds of young people to Up Park Camp in Kingston

Kingston, Jamaica

Fake WhatsApp posting lured hundreds of young people to Up Park Camp headquarters in Kingston, for the Jamaica National Service Corp (JNSC) program.

On a daily basis, the JDF invites 60 to 80 people to sign up via the jointhejdf.com website to come in and go through a recruitment procedure. Nevertheless, on Monday March 18 more than 2,000 young men and women turned up at Up Park Camp, well groomed, but uninvited, claiming to have received the notification via WhatsApp.

The message indicated as follows: “[18.03.19 Monday, 0700hrs/7am, Up Park Camp, Kingston. JDF recruitment exam/test, TRN, NIS, ID/Passport, CXC, High School Leaving Certi, If no CXC, Formal Dress Code, Face n Hair should well groom … tuff luck].”

According to JDF’s Civil Military Cooperation and Media Affairs Officer Major Basil Jarrett, the message was more than likely sent out by scammers trying to cover their tracks after collecting thousands of dollars from people they promised placements in the army program.

Basil Jarrett added, “the army typically interviews and tests approximately 60-80 applicants daily. So yesterday’s turnout of 2000 people was unusual “Before anyone is call to do the interview and test, they would first be required to complete the application process online before they are notified to come in”.

The Program was announced in 2017 by Prime Minister Holness, it aimed to create an avenue for young people aged 18 to 23 to be full empowered through national service. JNSC is part of the Learn Earn, Give and Save Program. It falls under the Governments Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment initiative, targeting job and training opportunities for unattached young people.

The Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) says it has launched an investigation into the origins of a “social media posting “which resulted in close to 2,000 individuals showing up at the base.

The JDF in a statement sent to the media yesterday, said it is urging people interested in applying to the JNSC program to be careful about what they read on social media about the program and the application process and to be wary of unscrupulous individuals posing as JDF recruiters.

According to Major Jarrett, majority of the people showed up had neither applied online nor received a call, and when we enquired as to what prompted them, we were shown the posting circulated online.

The uninvited recruits travelled from all around the Island. Some from the far end of the Island, St James and Westmoreland. The JDF opted to register most of the applicants, this they say is not the norm but taking considering the distance they had travelled, they didn’t want to waste their time. Major Jarrett added that “while the JDF is buoyed by the show of support and is encouraged by the interest that young Jamaicans have shown for the JNSC program we are also reminding applicants that there is no application fee or other costs associated with applying and so persons should be immediately suspicious of anyone trying to hijack their enthusiasm by ‘selling’ them a spot in the organisation.”

The JNSC is the standard mode of enlistment for people joining the JDF to serve as full-time soldiers. Prior to this, there were two previous primary categories of service: The Regular Force, soldiers that perform military duties on a full-time basis, and the Reserve Force — soldiers that perform military duties on a routine or on-call, part-time basis.

“Before anyone is called to do the interview and test, they would first be required to complete the application process online before they are notified to come in.

Jarrett admit that this incident was not the first time, but the first where so many people showed up. He said also that individuals have been arrested in the past for similar scamming activities but gave assurance that rigorous investigations were being done.

“Some came from as far as Westmoreland. We still went ahead and registered everybody so they can be in our system, although that’s not the regular process. We didn’t want to waste their time. There was a social media posting, which I must say is fake news. Some of them have paid unscrupulous persons from $15,000 to $30,000, to get in the JDF. Persons have been meeting with scammers”.

“All of this seems to have started online. We’ve had this problem before, just not on this scale, with the use of social media and the giving of a date and time. There is no cost to joining the JDF, and if anyone offers you a spot for a fee, that is a red flag. That fake post is part of a plan to make their scamming look legitimate. We are cautioning persons not to engage.”

“The JDF did not put out that post and so we are warning applicants that they should only rely on information posted on official JDF social media platforms and mainstream news for information relating to their applications or the application process,” said Major Jarrett.

As a rule, though, all applicants to the JNSC program must register initially on the JDF’s recruiting website jointhejdf.com and wait to be called.