Through a persistent cyber-intelligence operation, the Ghana Police Service has detained 12 suspects and is looking for over 25 more for their involvement in cyber-related crimes.
Investigations have revealed that the criminal organization’s strategy is to pretend to be well-known individuals, such as ministers of state, members of parliament (MPs), heads of governmental organizations, and corporate entities on social media in order to defraud unwary victims of various sums of money by promising them jobs, scholarships, the publication of false promotional advertisements, and the sale of goods, among other things.
973 fake social media accounts that the suspects created using the names of these well-known people and companies have been taken down as part of the operation. The names of 785 of the fictitious accounts belonged to members of parliament, 62 to security personnel, 136 to ministers of state, ambassadors, and some institutional heads.
In addition, the police have found 54 SIM cards, three laptops, and 32 mobile phones that the suspects used to carry out their crimes.
According to the Police, the initiative to combat cybercrimes has been institutionalized and “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 number is only used for this exercise.
The 12 suspects are; Gideon Kove alias Billions, Felicia Nanewortor, Carl Kristal, Safari Zatey, Eric Acquah alias Cent Mona, Richard Agbadzi, Isaac Dortsue alias Barajah and Samuel Gadre.
The others are Moses Otchie alias Razak, Yonnah Boso, Sterling Kwame Doe and Wisdom Tornyie.
They are currently aiding the police investigation, and they will appear in court to answer for their crimes.
