12 Suspected Cyber Fraudsters Arrested
The Ghana Police Service has arrested 12 persons suspected to be cybercriminals while 25 others are being traced.
The 12 have been identified as Gideon Kove alias Billions, Felicia Nanewortor, Carl Kristal, Safari Zatey, Eric Acquah alias Cent Mona, Richard Agbadzi, Isaac Dortsue alias Barajah, Samuel Gadre, Moses Otchie alias Razak, Yonnah Boso, Sterling Kwame Doe and Wisdom Tornyie.
In a statement on March 1, 2023, the Service said the suspects hacked social media accounts belonging to Members of Parliament, Ministers of State and Heads of government institutions and corporations to defraud their unsuspecting victims.
“Investigation has established that the modus of the criminal syndicate is to impersonate or hack into the social media accounts of prominent persons including Ministers of State, Members of Parliament (MPs), Heads of government institutions and corporate entities to defraud unsuspecting victims of various sums of money by promising them jobs, scholarships, publication of fake promotional advertisements and sale of products among others.”
Their arrest forms part of the Service’s operation in clamping down on cyber-related crimes.
The statement also said the police recovered thirty-two (32) mobile phones, three (3) laptops and fifty-four (54) SIM cards used by the suspects to commit their crimes.
As part of the operation to clamp down on cybercrimes, the police said 973 fake social media accounts created by the suspects in the names of prominent persons and corporate entities have been pulled down.
“785 of the fake accounts were in the names of MPs, 62 in the names of security officials,136 for Ministers of State, Ambassadors and some heads of institutions.”
It added, “we would like to urge anyone who has fallen victim to any of the above-mentioned crimes to contact 0249850601 for further Police action. This is a dedicated number solely for this exercise”.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
