The Fraud Squad is investi-gating several reports from Western Union customers who claim that their remittances have gone missing.

The customers all say that when they went to the Western Union branches, operated locally by GraceKennedy Remittance Services (GKRS), they were told that the funds had already been 'issued'.

Maria Jackson, a customer, said US$600 was sent to her from New York, United States, on May 24. However, her visits to three Western Union locations only led to her being told that the transaction was not on the system.

"I went to the Pavilion Mall branch the Tuesday after the money was sent and the Super Plus supermarket branch in Half-Way Tree later that day and they both told me that the money was not there," Jackson said.

She also visited a branch in New Kingston before deciding to call the sender. " ... I called the sender in New York and told her that I was not getting the money. So, she went to the Western Union office in New York that she sent it from and they told her that information on their system shows that a 'Maria Jackson' had collected the money that morning. That person was not me."

In the case of Jenna, over TT$4,000 was sent to her on April 30. She said, however, that she was not able to retrieve the money until May 22, as her passport, her source of identification, was being renewed.

She said since then she has made several checks at various outlets to no avail. "I had the control number and everything but they kept telling me that they were not seeing the transfer so I called the sender in Trinidad and told him," she said. "He went to the office he sent it from over there and they told him that their system shows that the money was collected in Jamaica on May 16 at 12:30 pm. At this time, my passport was not returned to me, so I could not have been the one who collected it."

The situation was similar in the case of Kerry, whose transaction was coming from New York. Several attempts to retrieve the cash were unsuccessful and the sending office overseas told the sender that records showed that the cash was picked up the same day it was sent.

All three persons said they have reported the episodes to the local Western Union headquarters and the Fraud Squad, both of which are conducting investigations.

Noel Greenland, the vice-president of marketing and product development at GKRS, said he knew of only one incident of such sort. "We process hundreds of thousands of cases on a monthly basis - a case of this is an isolated case and one that is investigated thoroughly," he said. "Western Union is safe, it is secure, it works."

Greenland said that he could not divulge any information regarding the investigation and whether it is something that had been referred to the Fraud Squad.

In the meantime, the Fraud Squad say its investigations are ongoing.

Names changed upon request