Cybercrime is on the increase in Jamaica and greater security measures are needed.

The latest victim is investor and attorney Able-Don Foote, whose instagram account has been replicated by fraudsters.

The reprobates are posing as the young attorney to attract business and profit through ill-gotten gains.

This besmirches Foote’s reputation and adversely impugns his credibility.

Foote has made every effort to address this matter, reporting the fake account to the police, Instagram and even the Jamaican Ambassador to the United States, Audrey Marks.

He is beseeching the public not to engage in any business transaction with this bogus account and to report the fake profile to his real account handle @1abledon.

Foote runs Astronomical Holdings Limited (AHL ), a privately held investment company.

Last month his company signed off on a convertible debt deal with iCreate (headed by Tyrone Wilson) for J$100 million.

There are growing numbers of cases where social engineering is employed (fake profiles, fraudulent text messages, sharing personal information) to dupe people in Jamaica as criminals turn increasingly to cybercrime.

Earlier this year, Head of the Jamaican Cyber Incident Response Team (JaCROIT) Lieutenant Colnel Godphey Sterling said: “We measure yearly reports in concert with the financial year. So, from April last year to March this year, we would have had about 29 such attacks reported. But when we do our monitoring, we are seeing significantly more indication that this is a problem.

“And oftentimes, when we see these indicators and reach out to potential or actual victims, they are unwilling to participate in a process of remediation.”

Not so for Foote, who is urging people to report this fake profile and to bring it to Instagram’s attention.

The fake account, he added, is @1abeldon.