Most businesses are driven by advertising and the illegal visa selling racket is no different. So serious is this venture, that at least one mastermind has decided to use the power of advertising to push his empire and boost 'sales'.

One such ad caught THE STAR's attention and we soon learned that all it took to get a "guaranteed 10 year visa" was $150,000 and a administrative fee of $3,000. Rambo, the voice behind the number advertised, told THE STAR how simple the process of obtaining a visa was. "All you have to do is bring your passport, two visa pictures and $3000 to cover the basic paperwork. We have to do some little checks too, to see if you've been deported or if you've been denied a visa in the last 6 - 12 months. So that money is for the paperwork. Once you start the process, it takes 7 - 12 business days to get processed," he said.

Rambo revealed that he has been involved in the business since the embassy was located on Oxford Road, but said since the move, he has been forced to step up his game as a lot more restrictions have been put in place. "Liguanea is a lot stricter than Oxford Road. They do things differently." His 'inside' connections however, have helped him move past the new regulations. He said, "All we do is go on to the computer and log it in. But we can only do it on specific days, we have to monitor it and make sure it's on the right day, because they get so precise and exact." He also explained that the cost was such to facilitate paying the "people that work on the floor " - that is, those set to monitor proceedings.

He continued, "Once the passport is being processed, you pay $50,000 because we don't want to take your money before things start happening." He also advised that there were satisfied 'customers' who could attest to the fact that his service was reliable. "I have people that I put on programmes already. You can talk to dem. It's a legitimate programme. I have visa books that you can look at. Everything has been successful. We doing this from in the 80s."

A senior officer from the Fraud Squad told THE STAR that he has heard "little things" about such scams, but said "we never really get to reach a main player..no substantial leads." He also revealed that the mastermind could be arrested as "the only place that issues visas is the embassy. I don't know of visas being sold on the road. It's a fee of six or seven thousand so with the fee of $100,000, you know you're getting into something illegal."

Efforts to contact a representative from the US Embassy were unsuccessful. In an earlier release however, the embassy released a public advisory warning against fraudulent visa appointments. It said, "Persons found to be tampering with the appointment data base and/or filing fraudulent appointments will be reported to the Jamaican authorities for possible criminal prosecution. Persons entering the U.S. Embassy with falsified appointment letters will be denied visas and may be subject to permanent visa ineligibility."

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