Student defrauds Black Stars player

An Accountancy student of Takoradi Polytechnic, Felix Adjetey Xyvkes, has been hauled before an Accra Circuit Court, accused of using the name of Black Stars and Juventus player, Kwadwo Asamoah, to defraud unsuspecting football fans.

The suspect who opened a Facebook account using the name of the player to solicit funds for an alleged injury was put in a court presided over by Mrs Ellen Vivian Amoah, where he was charged with defrauding by false pretences.

He pleaded not guilty to the offences and has been remanded in police custody to reappear on July 27, 2015.

The facts of the case as presented by the prosecuting officer, DSP Aidan Derry, are that the suspect is an accountancy student, while the complainant is Kwadwo Asamoah, a Black Stars and Juventus player.

He said during the year 2014, the suspect created a Facebook page using the name Kwadwo Asamoah with all the particulars of the player and posted information that he was at a camp in Juventus, Italy.

Furthermore, he said the student later posted that he was injured and needed financial assistance to treat his injury and consequently opened an MTN mobile money account using numbers 024948975 and 024214989 to facilitate his fraudulent transactions.

In addition, he said the suspect demanded GHc10,000 from persons on Facebook and directed them to pay through the said mobile phone numbers and many people, especially football fans thought they were dealing with the Black Stars player.

Explaining further, he stated that the student told police that he received GHc300 from some people after asking for financial assistance.

The police officer mentioned that the player’s friends alerted him about the fraud being perpetrated in his name.

He said the suspect asked a Ghanaian businesswoman in Dubai to buy an I-phone plus for his mum as a birthday present because he was in camp and was not allowed to leave Italy.

DSP Derry explained that police intelligence officers mounted surveillance on the suspect and he was informed that his I-phone 6 plus had arrived on June 11, 2015 at a courier office in Takoradi.

DSP Derry said the suspect was to pay charges of GHc124, but he insisted he would pay custom duty for the phone in Accra and was arrested at the airport on June 19, 2015 when he went to pick up the phone.

The prosecutor said the student was arraigned after police investigations.