MELISSA FRAUD SHIELD

LASCO Financial Services has revealed that it began holding back 30 per cent of donations made through the Government’s Hurricane Melissa relief platform after its system flagged as suspicious, a number of transactions linked to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM). LASCO said it remitted 70 per cent of the money received to ODPEM daily while the reserve was being held, with more than 95 per cent of all donated amounts having been paid over to the agency by the end of March, before the 30 per cent withholding was discontinued in June after the risk associated with the account returned to normal. The disclosure provides a new explanation for the arrangement, which came under scrutiny after the Auditor General’s Department found that 30 per cent of online donations had been retained for up to 45 days by a financial services institution, without a formal written agreement governing the retention.

The audit found that $15.7 million and US$298,429 in donations withheld between October 28 and December 31, 2025 were due to be transferred to ODPEM by February 15, 2026. However, the financial services institution told auditors on March 9 that none of the withheld funds had yet been transferred. Four days later, ODPEM provided a transfer receipt showing that $16.1 million and US$305,292 had been sent on March 9, but the auditor general said she could not independently confirm that the money had reached ODPEM’s accounts because the agency had not provided the relevant bank statements.

LASCO Financial, in a July 31 letter to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Julian Robinson, said the decision to retain the money followed a review of the risk associated with the account after its payment system detected suspicious activity. According to the company, the 30 per cent was not treated as money belonging to it, but as a refundable security reserve intended to protect against possible losses arising from disputed or fraudulent card transactions. The company said a July 8, 2024 agreement with ODPEM expressly provided for a refundable security reserve, but no reserve was instituted at the time, based on the risk assessment then in place.

LASCO Financial said the 45-day period was based on guidance from its banking partners, who advised that this was the period within which a customer could challenge a transaction.