Online scammers grab GHC15m cash

Four persons have been arrested for allegedly orchestrating a 419 scam to defraud unsuspecting Ghanaians of millions of Ghana cedis.

The suspects, who are said to have defrauded about 1,000 Ghanaians over GHC15 million, according to the police, are linked to Savanna Brokerage Investment – an online scam.

The four persons (whose names were not readily given) were arrested in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

According to a report from the Cyber Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service, the suspects promised their victims high interest rates on their investments and managed to lure lots of unsuspecting Ghanaians to invest with them.

The Director General in-charge of the Criminal Investigation Department, DCOP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo Danquah, said after inviting people to join the investment scheme, the scammers opened online accounts for them.

“Investors are made to deposit moneys into the accounts through their banks or mobile money merchants.

“They are able to log on into their accounts and track their investments for some time.

“After that, when they try to access their accounts, the online platform would not be available or there would be information that the website is experiencing some technical problems, or undergoing repairs,” she said.

She claimed that the cyber crime unit had been able to trace over a thousand victims who had been duped a little over GHC15 million.

Investors, the CID boss noted, are made to part with various amounts of money ranging from GHC100 to GHC10,000.

She has therefore, cautioned Ghanaians to be careful about these online scams as well as others, in order not to be defrauded.

She made this known at the closing ceremony of a training course organised for 76 police detectives, including two military police personnel and Ghana Immigration Service, at the Detective Training School at the Police Deport in Accra.

The detectives were drawn from various CIDs across the country to undergo a six-week training in crime detection and investigations.

DCOP Addo Danquah said the topics were carefully selected to sharpen the skills of personnel regarding investigation of contemporary and challenging crimes.

Neil Abbot, an international liaison officer at the British High Commission in Accra, said while technology is getting better each day, criminals are taking advantage to move ahead of the police hence, the need to take whatever knowledge they had acquired into good use to make the country safe.

The commanding officer of the Military Police, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Kojo Banaman, called for more collaboration between the police and the military in crime prevention.

Awards were given to individuals for their excellent performances.

Chief Inspector Comfort Yaaya Ankrah of Koforidua DOVVSU received an award for scoring the highest marks in class tests.