Customs broker sentenced for role in $12m credit card fraud scheme
Published:Friday | July 25, 2025 | 12:51 PM
A customs broker, 44-year-old Nathiel Graham, has been ordered to serve three years in prison following his conviction for his role in a multimillion-dollar credit card fraud operation targeting the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA).
However, Graham will be released in November as he has already served most of the time, having been in custody since November 2022.
He was sentenced in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on July 11 after pleading guilty to several offences on September 19, 2024.
Graham was sentenced to two years' imprisonment on each of the six counts of engaging in a transaction involving criminal property with which he was charged; three years each on eight counts of fraudulent conversion; and two years each on four counts of obtaining money by means of false pretence.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
The charges stemmed from a report made by the JCA to the Financial Investigations Division (FID) concerning suspicious activities on its e-payment platform, used for the payment of customs duties on imported motor vehicles and goods.
Graham was found to have fraudulently used credit card information from five individuals to make payments totalling $12,054,933.35.
The FID says "these unauthorised transactions triggered chargebacks from financial institutions, resulting in significant financial losses to the State and undermining the integrity of an important source of national revenue — the importation of goods.
In commenting on the outcome, the FID’s Senior Director of Legal Services, Courtney Smith, noted: “This case illustrates how fraudsters attempt to exploit government systems to their own advantage, robbing the country of vital revenue streams in the process. But it also demonstrates what can be achieved through strong institutional collaboration."
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