EOCO arrests 422 online loan ‘gangsters’ terrorising Ghanaians

The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), in collaboration with other state security agencies, has arrested 422 unlicensed online loan administrators who resorted “to the use of death threats and the non-consensual distribution of private messages, images and videos mainly accessed through authorized permissions granted by unsuspecting victims who patronize these digital platforms.”

According to the EOCO, its investigations led to the “identification of one hundred and fifty (150) unlicensed digital loan application platforms” that engaged in these unlawful acts.

“…On Monday, July 10, 2023, with support from the Ghana Police Service, conducted a swoop in three (3) different suburbs in the Greater Accra Region where a total of four hundred and twenty-two (422) Ghanaians and three (3) foreign nationals were arrested. In all, six hundred and fifty-four (654) mobile phones, twenty-two (22) laptop computers and about eight hundred (800) sim cards were retrieved as part of the exercise” EOCO said in a press release.

There has been a proliferation of online and digital loan platforms that charge exorbitant interests and terror to get victims who patronize their loans to pay.

“The Economic and Organised Crime Office wishes to reiterate its commitment to the enforcement of relevant laws on the operations of the financial markets in Ghana and hereby cautions the general public to desist from having any form of engagements with unlicensed financial entities who ply their trade online,” EOCO warned.

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