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Veteran artiste manager/booking agent Heavy D says that for the past 15 years, he's seen where persons scamming event planners, trying to secure artistes' services, has been more prevalent.

"These guys are smart. A [recently] mi a tell a girl seh yuh betta look out fi dem, because they are coming after these younger artistes hard too. I sent someone to prison aready for it (scamming). They collected somebody money and said they paid me for Gully Bop bookings and that wasn't the case, and the person did a year in prison for it," Heavy D told THE STAR. Recently, a US promoter wrote to this newspaper saying that he lost US$9,500 (approximately J$1.5 million) trying to book reggae acts for a show in Los Angeles. Heavy D said that after being in the industry for more than 30 years, he is well aware of some of the red flags which indicate you are possibly being scammed. One of them is whenever persons try to send money through a popular money transfer company. Heavy D said big promoters and booking agencies in Jamaica collect their money through the bank, so the client can have a trace of the transaction. He also recommended having a website that's connected to an email which "cannot be duplicated easily". He said this is essential in preventing the scammers from accessing and signing off on contracts that they might find online belonging to a prominent booking agent/manager, whose information they might duplicate and pass off as their own. Another warning sign is being able to book an esteemed artiste at a ridiculously low price.

"The people dem weh seh 'dem can get the artiste cheaper' are always the scamming people," he said. "Sometimes they give out some documents weh look so real, but it always a go have one issue. Suh if you can't pick out dah one issue, then you're gonna have an issue. They even have a scam right now where they do dubplates impersonating artistes."

He advised event promoters to fact-check with the experienced managers and industry players when conducting bookings.

"You can't go through the second-hand people that say they know the artiste or know somebody who know the artiste because, that is where the trouble start. You have to go to who work directly with the artiste; like the manger ... who are reputable and have been in the industry for years, who can guide you carefully to the right people," he recommended. He noted that in 1997 while overseas, he paid more than US$100,000 for an international vocal group before the persons disappeared.

"We managed to get back only [a little over] US$ 30,000 out wi money, so I was scammed right there," he said.

With the increased use in technology to book an artiste or using information presented on their personal social media handles, Heavy D, whose given name is Junior Fraser, said he has recently invested in a physical office booking studio, Reynold's Booking Agency, which is operated by him and his business partner, Tameka Reynolds.