A suspected attempt by a teacher and three others to recover GH¢44,800 allegedly lost through a mobile money and bank fraud scheme has taken a dramatic turn, with the four now under police investigation for allegedly kidnapping the suspected fraudster.
The teacher, identified as Mavis Badu, is said to have lost GH¢24,800 from her MoMo wallet and another GH¢20,000 from her Ecobank account after allegedly falling victim to a sophisticated phone scam on September 3.
According to the victim’s sister, Afia Adutwumwaa, the incident began when Mavis received a call from a person claiming that GH¢1,000 had mistakenly been transferred to her MoMo account.
Although she initially ignored the call, another woman who identified herself as Emmanuella and claimed to work with MTN Ghana later contacted her.
Afia said the caller allegedly told Mavis that someone was attempting to access her MoMo account and instructed her to follow a series of steps to secure it.
The woman reportedly asked Mavis to reset her OTP and forward messages received during the process. She was later allegedly asked to provide digits from her ATM card after being told that her MoMo account was linked to her Ecobank account.
It was only about two hours later that Mavis reportedly discovered that GH¢24,800 had been withdrawn from her MoMo wallet, while another GH¢20,000 had been taken from her bank account.
With efforts to recover the money underway, the family sought assistance from persons with information technology expertise to trace the telephone numbers allegedly used in the transactions.
One of the numbers was reportedly linked to Bismark Amoh, 30, a resident of Assin Fosu.
Rather than immediately handing the matter over to the police, the family allegedly devised a plan to get Bismark to Kumasi.
Afia explained that a female friend of Mavis pretended to be romantically interested in Bismark and arranged to meet him in Kumasi.
When he arrived from Assin Fosu, he was allegedly confronted and restrained by the group.
Afia claimed Bismark was held for about three days while the suspects demanded money from his relatives in exchange for his release.
Pictures of him allegedly tied with ropes were reportedly sent to his family, prompting relatives to make a partial payment of the demanded GH¢45,000.
The family later alleged that Bismark admitted involvement in the fraud during the confrontation and mentioned other individuals whom he claimed were connected to the operation.
Afia identified some of the names allegedly mentioned as Chino, who was said to be the suspected leader, his wife Ceci, and others identified as Naomi and Dawuda.
She further claimed that GH¢5,000 was initially sent by people connected to Bismark, followed by GH¢14,500 the following day.
The payments brought the amount allegedly recovered to GH¢19,500, leaving GH¢25,300 outstanding from the original GH¢44,800.
Afia said the family eventually stopped pursuing the remaining amount after Bismark pleaded with them not to report the matter to the police and promised to pay the balance.
“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.
However, the situation later changed dramatically after Bismark was released and the four people allegedly involved in his detention were arrested by police in the Ashanti Region.
Mavis, who is currently in police custody, and the other suspects are now facing investigation over the alleged unlawful detention, while the circumstances surrounding the original GH¢44,800 fraud claim are also expected to form part of the police inquiry.
Relatives of the suspects have called for a thorough investigation, insisting that the full circumstances surrounding the alleged fraud, detention and subsequent arrests must be established before the matter is brought to a conclusion.
