PICA says unscrupulous third party sites selling its immigration form

 

The Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) is seeking to clarify comments by National Security Minister Horace Chang that its online platform had been hacked.

 

The minister, in an interview with journalists on September 5, said the system had been hijacked by unscrupulous individuals who have since been selling the new C5 form for US$35 on third party sites.

 

But speaking with Radio Jamaica News on Thursday afternoon, Jason Hutchinson, head of Information and Communication Technology Business System at PICA, said the incidents did not constitute a hacking of the online platform.

 

Still, he cautioned the public to be vigilant of swindlers selling the form on third party sites. 

 

"There's no breach to the site and there's no redirection to any other site. The correct site is enterjamaica.com. The issue that we're having here is, it's a term called 'phishing' in cybersecurity. It's where persons impersonate the correct site and get persons to sign up on that site," he explained. 

 

On the phishing website, Mr. Hutchinson noted, customers are being asked to pay for the service, while on the legitimate PICA website, the document is free. 

 

He urged travellers to ensure they are accessing the correct site, which he stressed is enterjamaica.com.

 

Mr. Hutchinson said PICA has put in place heightened security measures to safeguard its online platform.

 

Director of Business Development at PICA, Kauna McKenzie, said an internal probe has been launched into the matter.

 

"We are looking into it, we're making the public aware of the different sites that are asking for money, [and] not only are we making the public aware, the public is also making us aware of the different sites that are actually asking them for money. So it's an ongoing research that we are doing and gathering the data as well." 

 

Ms. McKenzie urged persons to report any suspicious sites by sending an email to infoatpica.gov. Persons with information can also reach to the agency by calling or sending a messgae on any of its social media pages.

 

Radio Jamaica News was informed that unsuspecting travellers have been charged as much as US$100 or approximately $15,460 for the C5 form.