A teacher, Mavis Badu, and three others are under investigation for allegedly kidnapping a suspected mobile money (MoMo) fraudster in an attempt to recover money lost to fraud.
Reports indicate that the teacher was defrauded of GH¢44,800 from her bank and mobile money accounts.
In an attempt to retrieve the money, a friend of the victim feigned romantic interest in the alleged fraudster and lured him to Kumasi for a meeting.
According to the victim’s sister, Afia Adutwumwaa, the four suspects then seized the alleged fraudster to demand the money.
“A friend of my sister posed as someone who wanted to have a relationship with the guy, so he travelled from Assin Fosu to meet the lady. They then held him and demanded the money,” she explained.
The alleged victim, Bismark Amoh, 30, a resident of Assin Fosu, was reportedly held for about three days.
His alleged kidnappers were said to be demanding GH¢45,000 for his release, an amount his relatives partially paid after seeing pictures of him tied with ropes.
According to the family of one of the suspects, Bismark was subsequently released, after which the suspects were arrested by police in the Ashanti Region.
Speaking to JoyNews, Afia Adutwumwaa explained that her sister Mavis, who is now in police custody, became the target of a sophisticated mobile money fraud scheme on September 3.
She said her sister first received an anonymous call from a person claiming to have mistakenly transferred GH¢1,000 to her MoMo wallet, a call she ignored.
Later that day, another caller, a woman who identified herself as Emmanuella and claimed to be calling from MTN Ghana as part of a team monitoring mobile money activities, contacted her.
According to Afia, the woman told her sister that an attempt had been detected to access her MoMo account and withdraw money from it. She assured her that the culprit would be blocked and later called back to say the process had been completed.
The caller then allegedly instructed her sister to reset the OTP on her MoMo application and sent her another telephone number, asking her to forward all messages received during the process.
Afia said her sister followed the instructions without examining the messages closely.
The caller then allegedly told her that her MoMo account was linked to her Ecobank account and asked her to provide digits from her ATM card.
About two hours later, Afia said, her sister realised that GH¢24,800 had been withdrawn from her MoMo wallet and another GH¢20,000 from her bank account, bringing the total loss to GH¢44,800.
The family subsequently sought assistance from persons with expertise in information technology to trace the telephone numbers allegedly used in the transaction. According to Afia, one of the numbers was traced to Bismark.
She said a woman was then used to establish contact with Bismark and lure him to Kumasi under the impression that he was coming to meet someone he had met online.
Upon his arrival, he was confronted over the alleged fraud.
“We recorded videos as proof of the confrontation and citizen’s arrest. Some of these videos were later posted online to shame him and raise public awareness,” Afia said.
She alleged that during the confrontation, Bismark admitted involvement in the transaction and promised to contact persons connected to him to arrange a refund.
She further alleged that Bismark mentioned several persons in connection with the operation, including a man identified as Chino, believed to be the leader, as well as his wife Ceci, and others identified as Naomi and Dawuda.
According to Afia, an initial GH¢5,000 was subsequently sent by persons connected to Bismark, followed by another GH¢14,500 the next day, bringing the total amount returned to GH¢19,500 and leaving a balance of GH¢25,300 outstanding.
She said the family eventually abandoned further efforts to recover the balance after Bismark pleaded with them not to report the matter to the police and assured them he would refund the remainder.
“He was escorted to the Assin Foso Police Station, where he was given money to return home,” she said.
“For us, we gave up on the matter,” Afia added.
Relatives of those now in custody are calling for a thorough investigation to bring finality to the matter.
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