Severe sanctions coming for revenge porn, bank fraud
Published:Wednesday | January 28, 2026 | 12:11 AM
Tougher penalties are coming for persons who carry out revenge porn by publishing ‘intimate images’ of someone without their permission. Publishing ‘intimate images’ of persons under the age of 18 will attract more stringent sanctions of up to 20 years’ imprisonment upon conviction.
Debate started yesterday in Gordon House on amendments to the Cybercrimes (Amendment) Act 2026. The debate was suspended and will resume next week.
“These amendments are not abstract. They are citizen focused. They are meant for the young person whose image is weaponised. The family defrauded through impersonation. The small business targeted from abroad. And the Jamaican who wakes up to discover that their life has been digitally forged, posted, and distributed at scale,” Dr Andrew Wheatley, minister without portfolio with responsibility for science and technology, said while piloting the bill yesterday.
The proposed statute defines “intimate image” to include content that is captured, generated, or created. The definition of ‘publish’ in the bill means sending, transferring, posting, disseminating, or otherwise providing access.
Wheatley said the amendments focus on stronger protection for people, especially children; sharper tools for law enforcement and prosecutors; and updated definitions and offences that reflect how harm now travels through digital platforms.
The bill, according to Wheatley, also strengthens the current framework against banking fraud and scamming activities.
“It does not merely chase the individual scammer after the money is gone. It targets the enablers – the tools, the infrastructure, and the environments that make organised cyber-fraud profitable,” he said.
CLAUSE 6 OF THE BILL
He said Clause 6 of the bill tightens offences around the unlawful availability, distribution, or possession of devices, data, and keys designed or adapted primarily for committing cyber offences.
Wheatley said too many Jamaicans have had their bank accounts targeted through phishing and impersonation, payment diversion, account takeovers, SIM-swap-style tactics, and social engineering that now spreads at scale through messaging apps and social media.
While indicating his support for the bill, Opposition Leader Mark Golding expressed disappointment that the proposed statute did not fulsomely address challenges brought about by artificial intelligence (AI).
The amendments now being debated before Parliament formed part of a raft of recommendations made by a joint select committee, which reviewed the parent law in 2023.
“The law needs to more fulsomely protect persons’ images, their reputations, and the use of their appearance and their voice and other biological manifestations through manipulation to denigrate them,” Golding said.
Arguing that the bill was dated, Golding said it did not address the most pressing problems that have emerged in the last three years through AI.
He wants the Government to give a commitment to move rapidly to convene another joint select committee to update the legislation to address the pressing issues that have arisen through AI.