Police sources are linking a rise in laptop theft in sections of the island to the deadly lottery scam.

Sources say players in the scam are using high-tech methods to steal the devices as they try to evade police attention.

"What we are finding is that the players have come up with a way to detect where laptops are. The men use these laptops for a little while and then dispose of them. They do this to get rid of the evidence, so to speak," Detective Inspector Travis Carter of the Area 1 police said when contacted yesterday. Montego Bay, St James, which is dubbed the 'home' of the lottery scam is one place said to be affected by a rise in the theft of laptops.

actual figures

THE STAR was unable to get actual figures as those who could assist were said to be out of office for the day. Other areas also said to be affected by the theft are Hanover, St Elizabeth and the Corporate Area.

Last Tuesday, gunmen entered the campus of the University of Technology (UTech) in St Andrew and stole two laptops.

Reports are that some time about 8:30 p.m. students were under a gazebo when they were approached by two men who immediately declared that they were armed.

The men took the laptops, got into a motor vehicle and sped off.

Director of Safety and Security at UTech, Bobby Smith, told THE STAR after the incident that he also believes the theft were connected to the lottery scam.

He said that owners of laptops sometimes unknowingly exposed their devices to thieves.

Wi-Fi detectors

"Sometimes they leave the laptop in the car and with the Wi-Fi signal on. The thieves have detectors for Wi-Fi signals so they know which cars laptops are in. People put their laptops in sleep mode instead of turning them off, and they are detected and stolen," he explained.

Consequently, the police are urging laptop owners to completely shut down their devices when not in use. The lottery scam came to light in 2005 and has since become a multimillion-dollar business for criminals. The fraud has been blamed for scores of ruthless killings, especially in and around the busy city of Montego Bay. Players in the fraud use illicitly obtained personal information about United States citizens to con them into sending moneyunder the guise that they have won the lottery.