The lead story in Monday's edition of THE STAR is truly an embarrassing picture of the negative way in which our 'Jamaica land we love' is viewed by some foreigners.

If the details in the article are totally accurate, then at least one phone company in the United States has taken its own initiative to protect Americans from the notorious lottery scam - a multimillion-dollar scam operated by criminals here in Jamaica.

under suspicion

According to the story, a major telecommunications company has barred some of its customers from making calls to Jamaica, under suspicion of their involvement in the scam.

Actions such as this only goes to show just how much criminals have tainted the image of our island.

The article mentioned that at least one Jamaican living in the US had to go through a lengthy verification process with the company to verify that her calling to the country had nothing to do with the lottery scam.

scrutiny

Such a situation also goes to show that we are ever seemingly under scrutiny.

If a company can think to go to such drastic actions to protect their people, then one can only imagine just how the real movers, shakers and decision-makers from that country think.

It can never be over-emphasised as to how much Jamaica needs a 'makeover' and quite frankly the time is now.

How much longer will we sit and look?