How Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture Gambusia affinis Aquariums will reduce the Aedes Aegypti Mosquito Population

The Government of Jamaica doomed to repeat the same mistake again with the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis). Or they may be geniuses, as this just might work!

I’m of course referring to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture plan to give Jamaicans aquariums filled with Tiki-Tiki Fish as reported in the article “Tiki Tiki Fish Being Distributed To Households Islandwide To Kill Mosquito Larvae”, Published Wednesday September 14, 2016 by Jason Cross, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Otherwise known as the western mosquito fish (Gambusia affinis), the aim is to control the Aedes Aegypti Mosquito population islandwide naturally! They are distributing these Aedes Aegypti Mosquito larvae eating fish across this island in Jamaican households as a natural method of controlling the spread of the Aedes Aegypti Mosquito that spreads the Zika Virus.

Hopefully too, it’ll also encourage a love for Aquaculture.....at least that’s my take on it, as the Aquaculture Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture's Fisheries Division will be procuring the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis).

Already, the Zika Virus has been identified as the causative agent behind Microcephaly, acute myelitis and Guillain-Barré syndrome as pointed out in my blog article entitled “How the Zika Virus now connected to Microcephaly, acute myelitis and Guillain-Barré syndrome”.

Now there is evidence from research done by Dr Joseph Gleeson, a professor at Rockefeller University that suggests that it may also affect adult brain cells as reported in the article “Zika may damage brain cells in adults, say scientists”, published Sunday, August 21, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.

Apparently the Zika Virus affects the pats of the brain critical to learning and memory and even behaviour.  So it’s not just babies anymore; we adult humans are in danger of basically falling prey to a virus that can reduce out thinking capacity even as adults, potentially making us more violent.

Just Great!

So can these Tiki-Tiki Fish make a difference in controlling the population of the vector that spreads the Zika Virus?

Ministry of Agriculture Portmore experiment with Gambusia affinis - Tiki-Tiki Fish were supposed to kill the Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae

The answer is maybe! But first, some historical background into the use of Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) in Jamaica!

The Tiki-Tiki Fish experiment has been tried already in Portmore back in December 2011 as note in the article “Portmore Tries 'Tiki Tiki' To Control Mosquitoes”, published Thursday December 22, 2011, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Good to note back then the Minister of Agriculture was Robert Montague of the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party). Portmore had been chosen because of the high level of mosquito infestation in that community.

This is because the flat topography and extensive drainage systems resulting in a lot of water that's non-moving. The result is that it provides a lot of slow or still water for the Aedes Aegypti mosquito to breed and infest the Portmore area, resulting in the Zika Virus spread in that community.

It is for this reason that they sought to use the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) being as they are a natural, or biological, control for Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae as pointed out back then by Senior Public Health Inspector in the Vector Control Unit of the St Catherine Health Department, Simeon Bromfield.

This makes sense, as fogging only attacks the adult female Aedes Aegypti mosquito. However it only kills a small percentage of them and the Malathion Spray more like to affect humans as noted in my blog article entitled “Why Ministry of Health's Malathion caused asthma attacks at Ocho Rios High School and needs to be banned”. 

Worse, those that survive may potentially pass immunity to their offspring. So killing the Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae is key to winning the battle against mosquitoes and controlling the spread of the Zika Virus.

Ministry of Health and Agriculture Experiment by 2012 - Tiki-Tiki Fish failed and the GOJ cover-up

By this token, a total of 10,000 fish Tiki-Tiki Fish, costing the Aquaculture Branch of the Ministry of Agriculture's Fisheries Division some JA$50,000, had been released into the drain on Adair Drive located in the Waterford Community of Portmore.

Carried over a three (3) days period starting from Friday December 16^th 2011, the fish were a part of an experiment to be monitored monthly over a six (6) month period. High hopes had been placed on this program, given their successful use in Singapore to control mosquitoes, as they had been proven that the fish can survive in harsh conditions, including saline and stagnant water.

By August 2012, according to former mayor of Portmore George Lee, the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) had died out, resulting in him prematurely declaring the program a failure as noted in the article “Ticky-ticky flop! - Portmore back to square one”, published Sunday, August 26, 2012, by Corey Robinson, The Sunday Observer.

He claims that the water in Portmore Gullies was too heavily polluted to the point that it was too acidic for the fish to thrive, quote:  “They didn't do very well in Portmore... they couldn't survive the acidity. They would have survived if we had cleaner water. But because of the toxity with the sewage going into our drains, they couldn't. So the programme wasn't successful”.

Although his sources were not mentioned, he made one observation that is correct; the level of sewage encourages the growth of water lilies. These act as water breaks in flowing water, making it possible for the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes to lay their eggs during period of low water movement or water turbidity, attaching them to the leaves of these plants.

By the time the water starts to churn, the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes would have already hatched in 22 days and begun the cycle once again.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes lay up to 100 to 200 eggs; when they hatch and swim around in the still water pools created by the water lilies and garbage in the gullies. So even if they’d survived, the rate of reproduction of the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) would have to be equivalent to rate the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes were reproducing to make a dent.

Strangely, the Ministry of Agriculture has been silent on the result of the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) experiment. This has led many Jamaicans to one to wonder if it had failed and they're trying to cover up the possible massive financial expenditure on a program that just didn't work.

So what can be done to kill the Aedes Aegypti mosquito larvae population and thus control the population of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito spreading the Zika Virus?

How to make the Tiki-Tiki Fish Aquariums Work – Cleaning Gullies too Expensive but necessary

There are many changes that can be made to make the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) as well as natural alternatives that can be used alongside the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis).

One of the main changes with the  Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) Aquarium Program is that they’ll be distributed to households islandwide as pointed out in the article “Tiki Tiki Fish Being Distributed To Households Islandwide To Kill Mosquito Larvae”, Published Wednesday September 14, 2016 by Jason Cross, The Jamaica Gleaner.

This as it may be too expensive to clean the gullies and make them suitable for the “hardy” Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis). Thus encouraging all Jamaicans across the island to set up aquariums with Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) to eat mosquito larvae may be the cheapest solution.

To make Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) work in Gullies such as those in Portmore, the Government of Jamaica has to reduce the level of Garbage and pollutants being poured into the gullies, steam and rivers.

These pollutants, be it industrial waste from factories to people dumping garbage into the river, reduce the turbidity or moving water, make it more toxic with the presence of Rare Earth and heavy metal pollutants. It also increases the amount of organic material in the river, making algae, river lilies and other pathogen flourish and encouraging the Aedes Aegypti mosquito to lay their eggs and breed.

By making the water free-flowing, it presents less opportunity for them to breed. Part of this process may involve the dredging on these gullies, especially those in Portmore, to remove the mud that gathers at the bottom of the Gullies. This as during dry times, the moist mud, mostly made up of silt, is also a place where Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes often lay their eggs.

This aim is to keep the gullies free of debris, with the debris, which may be mostly plastic, electronics and other solid waste, being recycled to make revenue to support this initiative.

This is necessary but expensive as manpower and machines will be needed to clear and soft garbage and dredge the river; giving people an aquarium with a stock of Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis) is much cheaper.

Hence the reason why the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture are encouraging homeowners to grow Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis).

Natural pesticides and Mosquito Traps needed – DIY for homeowners looking for solutions

As for other natural alternatives that can be used, there are many, if you are the DIY (Do It yourself) type of Homeowner.

There is the use of the Garden croton, Tawa-tawa and Lemon grass extracts to kill Aedes Aegypti Mosquito Larvae as explained in my blog article entitled “How Garden croton, Tawa-tawa and Lemon grass can be used to kill Aedes Aegypti Mosquito Larvae”.

Discovered by Jerouen Paul Lumabao, a 10^th Grade student at Daniel R. Aguinaldo National High School in Davao City in the Philippines, this organic concoction can kill Aedes Aegypti Mosquito Larvae. However Jamaican scientists at the SRC (Scientific Research Council) would have to do their own analysis into the killing power, concentration required as well as its toxicity level and resultant effect on humans, plant and other marine life.

You don’t have to wait on them; it’s already known that Peppermint Oil kills insects such as Spiders, Cockroaches, Ants and Wasps and yes Mosquitoes, once the concentration is high enough as explained in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “How to use Mint Oil to ward off Mice and kill Spiders, Cockroaches, Ants and Wasps”.

Finally, the most practical may also be the most simple, as home owners can do this one themselves' build a Carbon Dioxide Generator Mosquito Trap as detailed in my blog article entitled “How to kill Zika and Yellow Fever mosquitoes using a Carbon Dioxide Generator Mosquito Trap”.

These can be scaled up to larger sizes, thus making it possible to kill mosquitoes in larger numbers than even using Destroyers or even Lemon Grass Candles as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “How to make Environmentally Friendly Citronella (Lemon Grass) Oil for Mosquito Repellant Lotion and Candles”. 

These solutions, along with the Tiki-Tiki Fish (Gambusia affinis), will make a dent in the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes population and reduce the debilitating effects to the Zika Virus.

How Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research estimates Global Food Waste can Feed 9 billion people by 2050

Globally, we know how much food the world needs to survive. We even know that we're we'll be having food shortages of essential foods items in the future as our population nears the 11.2 billion people by 2100 mark.

But how much of the food we already produce is being wasted?

According to research done by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany it's pretty high as noted in the article “The First Comprehensive Look at Global Food Waste Is as Bad as You'd Expect”, published August 1, 2016 By Prachi Patel, Scientific American.

Waste Food is any food that is still edible but is thrown away. It can include oversized portions on restaurant plates that is thrown away, imperfect food that could have been processed or even leftover parts from food processing that can be used to make more food.

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research work, which was published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal, made some really startling declarations.

Take a look at this graph produced by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the obvious becomes clear; 1^st World countries are the largest wasters of food on the planet Earth!

Using data from 2010 for 169 countries representing 98% of the World's population, they were able to make estimates about the global state of food waste:

1.      310 kilocalories in 1965

2.      510 kilocalories in 2010

3.      20% percent more food was available globally than what the human population needed

To put this another way, if we were to eliminate food waste, we could feed the world's projected population of at 9 billion people in 2050 without building Agriculture Towers as predicted in my blog article entitled “United Nations Population Division says 11.2 billion people by 2100 - Why Africa and India Population exploding as Insect Meat is coming”. 

So what can be done?

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Global Foods Waste - How to Feed 9 billion people by 2050

Not much really. It's hard to tell what's really constitutes waste food in the first place!

It's difficult to track as no one actually keeps track of what you actually consume and what you throw away. Part of the problem is that a lot of food cannot be safely re-processed and re-eaten.

Also, what can still be considered safe to eat, once the correct procedure to kill unwanted bacteria and other harmful pathogens is applied is hard to determine. 

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research got around this question of what is food waste by calculating the difference between the total calories in all the food a country produces or imports for consumption and the total number of recommended calories for all the people that make up each country's population.

Also, their figures may be overestimates, being as many people eat more than what they are supposed to based on recommended daily calories intake; obesity and malnourishment are the result as the UNFAO and IICA Reports confirm as noted in my blog article entitled “How UNFAO and IICA Reports indicate that Wealthy Jamaicans are malnourished”.

Also our food recycling technology is very primitive; we can redistribute uneaten food, but we cannot molecularly re-arrange food to make other foods, a technology that only exists in the fictional world of Star Trek.

All hope is not lost, however!

Still, various methods of preserving food to make it last longer exist, so food may not be consumed when purchased as described in my blog article entitled “Preserving Food at MICO - How to make Vegetables, Eggs and Shordy Bread last forever”.

We'd still have to switch to growing insects instead of cows and other ruminants for meat as argued by the UNFAO in my blog article entitled “United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says Insects is the Meat for the next 20 years”.

Also more efficient use of the land in the form of Agricultural Towers run by robots is still needed if food is to be grown organically as predicted in my blog article entitled “Why US$80 Billion Organic Farming Industry needs focus on Agricultural Towers, Robotics and School Farms”.

So the future still looks bleak with looming food shortages by 2050, as human greed is hard to change in the next 30 years!

Why Ministry of Justice JA$50,000 Illegal Vendors fine unworkable as regularizing Vendors needed

“Illegal vending is contributing to the garbage clogging up gullies and making this place look unfit for people to walk around”

Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck while addressing the members of the St Ann Justices of the Peace Association in Ocho Rios on Friday September 16^th 2016

Illegal vendors, beware; life is going to get harder. JA$25,000 or JA$50,000 harder!

This as Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck had declared that they plan to increase fines for illegal vending as reported in the article “Fines For Illegal Vending Could Skyrocket”, published Saturday September 17, 2016 by Carl Gilchrist, The Jamaica Gleaner.

The reason according to Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck?

Illegal vendors are allegedly causing the gullies to be clogged with garbage, resulting in flooding in long Marcus Garvey Drive in Kingston and Montego Bay, St James due to rains in early September 2016 as reported in the article “Flood Waters Cause Chaos Along Marcus Garvey Drive”, Published Saturday September 10, 2016, The Jamaica Gleaner.

According to Minister of Justice while addressing the members of the St Ann Justices of the Peace Association in Ocho Rios on Friday September 16^th 2016, the JP (Justices of the Peace) would do the honours, quote: “With respect to illegal vending, it may well be in the purview of justices of the peace to impose penalties soon. We want to increase the penalties not to $2,000 maximum, but maybe somewhere (between) $25,000 or $50,000, so justices of the peace can impose a higher penalty where there is illegal vending”.

Not so fond of this argument, as it implies that legal vendors, if such a creature exists, aren't also having a problem disposing of their garbage.

Plus, I thought the real problem was the use of non-biodegradable plastics such as Styrofoam, which the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) is yet to ban as pointed out in my blog article entitled “How JA$100 for recycling 500ml Plastic bottles and Styrofoam Ban will save Jamaica's Environment”.

At least Wisynco has a conscience and plans to phase out the use of Styrofoam altogether as pointed out in my blog article entitled “Why Wisynco making coloured Biodegradable Styrofoam heralds Beeswax Cardboard Packaging”

The other big polluters in Jamaica are yet to be charged, yet the GOJ decided to go after illegal vendors, who do what they do to survive!

But will this targeting of illegal vendors work?

Targeting illegal vendor unworkable - Regularizing MSME's and sorting garbage the way to go

Targeting illegal vendors by increasing a fine to JA$50,000 sends a bad signal to most illegal vendors, who are really unlicensed MSME (Micro Small and Medium enterprises). A better idea would simply be to make them legal vendors and require that they pay taxes to the Government.

This would require that they produce transaction receipts and keep records or their sales, possibly involving them having bank accounts and Mobile Money to process transactions as pointed out in my blog article entitled “How Electronic Transactions in Jamaica can eliminate Hidden Economy via Universal Consumption Taxation”.

This would show the Jamaican people that the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) believes in empowering people and encouraging Entrepreneurship as pointed out in my blog article entitled “How 9-y-o and Millennials in Jamaica are becoming CEO Entrepreneurs to avoid the Cubicle Rat Race”.

Plus, the so-called big man needs to also be brought to book and made to shoulder the burden of garbage collection and pollution, to quote the Minister of Justice Delroy Chuck: “The last two huge flooding in St James and Marcus Garvey Drive, it's all about garbage, and it's not just the little man; it's [also] the big man. Everybody [is] throwing garbage in the gullies, throwing their garbage on the streets, and creating that problem”.

Separating, sorting and masticating garbage for collection and an increase in the return value of plastic and Styrofoam to JA$100 per 500ml bottle or Styrofoam carton as argued in my blog article entitled “How JA$100 for recycling 500ml Plastic bottles and Styrofoam Ban will save Jamaica's Environment” in the best option, really!

This value would account not only the value of the plastic bottle but also the environmental impact as well as the cost for the NSWMA (National Solid Waste Management) to recover plastic bottles found in the wild.

The collected plastic can then be made into Plastic Lumber and used as construction material, effectively ending the life cycle of plastic by making into useful housing construction material as argued in my blog article entitled “How JA$100 for Plastic Bottles can be converted into Tru North Deck Plastic Lumber”. 

Increasing the fines for illegal vending from JA$1000 to JA$50000 in a bid to combat plastic and Styrofoam bottle pollution will not work. Tackling the problem by collecting Plastic before it reaches into the gullies is the way to go.

Claudius Gros of Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany Genesis Project may be Plan B for Earth 2.0

What if the Fermi Paradox as it relates to modified Great Filter Theory, also known as the Gaian Bottleneck Hypothesis as detailed in my MICO Wars Blog article entitled “How the Gaian Bottleneck Hypothesis says Extinction assured for Exoplanets and Earth” is true?

If so, out space may be empty, littered with the skeletons of aliens and microbial life that survived. So maybe we can change that via Panspermia; seeding the galaxy with Human life on much the same way human life began on Earth.

The Genesis Project aims to do just that as explained in the article “Genesis Project Proposes Seeding Earth-Like Planets, Possibly Creating Alien Life”, published September 12, 2016 by Curtis Silver, Forbes.

The idea, which was proposed in an essay in Astrophysics and Space Science in the theoretical physicist Claudius Gros of Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany, would involve probes piloted by AI (Artificial Intelligent) pilots loaded with microbes, plants, animal and human DNA.

So how would this work?

Claudius Gros’ Genesis Project – Terraforming Venus, Jupiter Moons and Mars

The A.I. ship would be powered by Electric Propulsion combined with a ground based laser similar to the one that Aerojet Rocketdyne is building for NASA as described in my blog article entitled “How NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne AEPS Laser Propulsion means Interstellar Travel in Days”. 

This AI piloted shop would travel at least 20% the speed of light. It would then be initially programmed to visit those planets that we've deemed to be in the habitable zone that are within a few light years but show no signs of active life.

First stop, Proxima B orbiting Promixa Centauri, a Red Dwarf 4.243 light years from Earth with a Planet that’s has the potential to be habitable.

Or we could start with our own planets, such as Mars and Venus, which may have had life billions of years ago when the Sun was cooler.

This assumption is based on the research of Michael Way from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and his colleagues in Geophysical Research Letters as published in the article “Hellish Venus Might Have Been Habitable for Billions of Years”, published August 10, 2016 By Shannon Hall, Scientific American.

We can still go back there, if you have no problem living in an airship in the upper atmosphere in Cloud Cities as explained in the article “Incredible Technology: NASA's Wild Airship Idea for Cloud Cities on Venus”, published April 20, 2015 By Mike Wall, Space.com.

Even the moons of Jupiter and Saturn may also make great places for human life to flourish via this Genesis Hypothesis as they may have had life a long time ago as per my blog article entitled “University of Sao Paulo Astronomers find HIP 11915 with Jupiter-like exoplanet – Earth 2.0 beckons in the Jovian Moons”.

Genesis Project - Plan B for Earth 2.0

Then using cloning tech and advanced tech based on CRISPR-Cas9 research fund by the Government of the Netherlands as detailed in my blog article entitled “Netherland's Plan to create Artificial Wombs, improve invitro-fertilization and eradicate Genetic Diseases”, humans, plants and animals can be artificial grown in-vitro inside of arterial wombs.

As millions of years pass, these microbes, plants, animals and humans would evolve to be us. Thus, when our time comes and the Earth and human life is no more thanks to an ELE (Extinction Level Event), as per the Gaian Bottleneck Hypothesis, we'd have populated the universe with our genetic progeny. 

These microbes, plants, animals and humans would have to be genetically engineered to survive their new exoplanet homes. This would allow them to adapt to whatever planet the AI decided to set up home base on.

They’d also have to be taught by the AI about being Humans. The AI would also have to make sure to terraform the plane to make sure the plants and animals can survive, eventually evolving over billions of years into species different from those on Earth.

Life, after all, may be a conservation of the 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics as Dr. Jeremy England, Physicist at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), as atoms naturally form compounds and more complex organisms as a more efficient way to achieve Entropy.

Truth be told, we have no choice, as a single Asteroid can make Human life go extinct. So the Genesis Project may actually be Plan B for Earth 2.0.

How Jamaicans are ABM Skimming NCB and Scotia Debit and Credit Cards for Christmas 2016

“The activities are also not limited to any specific geographical area as there have been reports of occurrences islandwide”

NCB (National Commercial Bank) on the sudden increase in ATM Scamming in Jamaica

ABM Scamming is on the rise, fellow Jamaicans. Be very scared, as your bank account can be cleaned out in less than 60 seconds.

This as scammers are now turning to stealing ABM Machine Card and Pin Data as reported in the article “ABM scamming not limited to any specific bank, NCB says”, published Wednesday, September 14, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.

On Wednesday August 14^th 2016, NCB stated that they're investigating of incidents in the past 72 hours involving 15 Bank accounts of customers suddenly showing a zero balance as reported in “BEWARE!! ATM SCAMMERS AT WORK!” published September 15, 2016 by Abka Fitz-Henley, Nationwide News.

These ATM Scammers apparently targeted ATM in the following parishes in the past 72 hours:

1.      Clarendon

2.      St. Ann

3.      Westmoreland

4.      St. James

5.      Kingston

Interestingly too, it's not just NCB ATM; they also seem to be targeting ATM of other banks, but apparently the NCB ATM is their favourite candyshop.

This is nothing new as Scotia Bank has been dealing with ATM or ABM Skimming since 2010, losing some JA$150 million in the process as reported in the article “Scotia loses $150 million in card scams”, published Sunday, August 29, 2010 By Alicia Roache Sunday Finance reporter, The Jamaica Observer.

More recently, in August 2016, Chinese Scammers had been arrested on suspicion of using skimmers to rob Jamaicans as noted in the article “Alleged Chinese scammers remanded”, published Monday, August 01, 2016, The Jamaica Observer.

NCB's Dane Nicholson & Lloyd Parchment made sure to come on Smile Jamaica on Friday 16^th September 2016 to warn people about this ongoing problem.

Now: More Details About the ATM Card Scam with NCB's, Dane Nicholson & Lloyd Parchment pic.twitter.com/ctzwyqojqN

— Smile Jamaica (@Smilejamtvj) September 16, 2016

So why is this happening all of a sudden?

NCB ATM and Skimming - How Skimming Works and why the Media is helping

NCB ATM are most likely being targeted as they easier to set up hidden Cameras and skimmers to capture information from the customer as described in my blog article entitled “Debit Card Cloning and the Cashless Society”. 

This video makes this quite plain, especially as the NCB official explained how to do it so well!

NCB, for some strange reason, even gave out a shopping list anyone can use to create their own skimmer in the article “It’s not us alone, says NCB of ABM scamming”, published September 15, 2016 by Loop News. So without further ado, I’d like to thank the media for dropping this info on us all; skimming incidents are gonna explode like wildfire from now on!

So, here’s your shopping list of items needed to do ATM Skimming:

1.      Card reader overlays

2.      Card reader inserts. 

3.      Covert pin-hole cameras

4.      Key pad overlays

Skimming occurs when the customer’s card passes through the fraudulent card reader overlay or card reader insert and reads the data from the magnetic strip. Card reader inserts are miniature devices which fit covertly into the throat of ABM card readers.

They are designed to skim or record card data when a card is being used to conduct a transaction.

The setup will also include a pinhole camera that capture your PIN (Personal Identification Number) and in more sophisticated setups, they may even use a Key pad overlay which look exactly like the genuine key pads of the machines.

The thieves then later return, usual late at night when everyone is asleep, to collect their Skimmer devices and the recorded data. They can then go home and using blank card with magnetic strips, rewrite the data onto these new cards and then withdraw the cash from your account at any ATM.

All in the space of 24 hours!!

It’ll also have the added benefit of making Mobile Money platforms such as NCB Quisk even more popular as predicted in my blog article entitled “How NCB Quisk Compares to CONEC Mobile Wallet as Jamaica goes Cashless”. 

Again, I’d like to thank the Media for dropping this info on us; now Skimming ATM is gonna explode come Christmas 2016.

NCB and Skimming - Defense Against the Dark Arts on preventing ATM Theft

Luckily, NCB hasdropped some tips in the article “It’s not us alone, says NCB of ABM scamming”, published September 15, 2016 by Loop News that is quite helpful:

1.      Scrutinize the ABM for items that may have been installed over or around the PIN pad

2.      Avoid ABMs with connections pointed in the direction of the PIN pad. This may be used to house a hidden camera, which may record your PIN.

3.      Do not use ABMs that show possible signs of a loose or detached card slot, or presence of double-sided tape (used by skimmers to ensure quick and easy removal).

4.      Guard your PIN with your free hand while entering it on a keypad to prevent recording by cameras.

5.      Be aware of your surroundings and any possible loiterers when using the ABM.

6.      Do not accept help from people you do not know when using an ABM.

Please note, the NCB ATM's goes through a validation process that may take awhile; that's not an indication of a skimmer at work, as these devices read the information as fast as a POS (Point of Sale) reader.

This message is part of our ABM’s validation process:
“Please wait while the card is initialized”.
Do not be alarmed pic.twitter.com/BcxptJEv7Y

— NCB Jamaica (@ncbja) September 15, 2016

So do you feel safer? I sure do not, as I’m not even sure the POS devices in some store will safe by December 2016, when shopping goes into overdrive! Thieves now basically have two (2) options to rob you come Christmas 2016; steal your cash or rob you at the ATM.

Still, I'm taking these precautions and avoiding ATM for now.