Dear Editor,
IN serving summons on US citizen Rickford Burke in New York State to appear in Guyana’s courts, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has taken a welcome step to combat the rising scourge of extortion of Guyanese by individuals residing in the US.
In September 2022, the GPF issued a wanted bulletin for Burke concerning the offence of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony, Contrary to Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01, with regard to the publication of defamatory libel allegedly to extort money from Afras Mohammed.

Burke, no doubt, feeling secure in the US, mocked the law-enforcement efforts of the GPF; however, now that the first step towards his extradition to face justice in Guyana has been taken, Burke will be laughing on the other side of his face now and more importantly, others who are suspected of using social media platforms to openly run extortion schemes, will understand that there is no escaping the long arm of the law, and, although the wheels of justice grind slowly, they grind exceedingly fine.

Guyana’s biggest struggle in these extradition matters will not be with exposed arguments by the defendants of “political persecution,” but with the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
It seems the social media predators (and some political operatives) have made wide use of cash transfer platforms such as Cash App, Venmo, Zelle, Pay Pal, Money Gram, Western Union, Bank-to-Bank transfers et al, without due reportage of income as required by law.

While funds for personal use require little or no reporting, those received for goods and services (including social media ads) do; US$600 per annum is the threshold. I do hope the bell-ringing politician takes note and does not fall afoul of the IRS.

The extortionists are going to have a rather difficult time explaining the sums they receive; I am well aware of one case where a mother paid US$15,000 to expose an affair being carried on by her son and, then a further US$15,000 to “delete everything” by the woman involved in the affair; the sum mentioned in the Burke-businessman case is more than US$100,000. The IRS is going to go after their “pound of flesh” and, our revenue agencies should take note.

Guyana’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is responsible for requesting, receiving, analysing, and disseminating information related to suspicious transactions and other information relating to money laundering, terrorist financing, or proceeds of crime. Information on any suspicious transactions is passed to the Special, Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) of the GPF for investigation.

The Cybercrime Unit is also a repository of information on extortion schemes as those who refuse to pay usually make reports of Cyberbullying and/or attempts to extort cash. We have the system to combat overseas-based extortion but it needs to work harder to protect our citizens.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) may also want to pounce early before the IRS beats them to the punch. It feels as if Christmas has come early and, in that spirit of giving, I have prepared a dossier to assist with names and evidence for our local authorities, but also intend to share it with the US Embassy, Georgetown.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh